A Strange Traveler in a Stranger Land
by Worldsprayer
Summary: A Traveler of the Ways has entered Gekai having left a shattered Republic and broken order behind. The problem: The Ways exit out into the Dungeon of Orario. Escaping the dungeon depths alone will be no mean feat, and in the process of doing so, a wanderer will find a new family and purpose that will finally let a lost and broken soul find a new home.
1. Let it Flow

Authors initial notes:

This story is my first writing. It is a crossover between a number of various stories, genres, and domains, but will by far and large be primarily be between Star Wars and DanMachi or (Is it wrong to find a girlfriend in a dungeon?). The core element however is a crossover from a novel series I am preparing to write, my first foray into the writing world. As such, this fanfiction is my attempt at preparation and to learn and get feedback.

As such to those who bless me by giving me your time and reading this:

Please review. If you review, no matter your opinion, please find something to criticize and recommend for improvement. I am not possibly a "good" writer let alone a perfect one. I will only improve by others point out the places where I am blind. Please be constructive and kind if possible, but please...criticize away. I can take it.

All this being said, again, thank you for reading at least a little of my work, and I look forward to joining you in the world of Gekai and Orario and seeing just where a broken traveler can go when faced with the chance to help something, and someone, grow.

A Strange Traveler in a Stranger Land

Chapter 1: Let the Aether Flow Through You

The chamber was silent.

The room appeared to be a cave; the flowing surfaces comprised of hardened marble with glowing specs littered through the stone. As wide as 10 full men with arms outstretched, its sole content was a pedestal surrounded by outward growing rings upon which rested…nothing.

The chamber had rested silent and unvisited for likely millennia, and could easily wait millennia more without disturbance, the air as still as ever. A future of continued silence and motionlessness…was not meant to be. There was little warning as the 10-sided pedestal with its slightly tilted face lit up with a brilliant and pulsing green glow, misshapen and flickering characters hovering in the air above it until…it stopped. A moment. Then two. The event seemingly had no cause, and seemingly no effect until-

The still air above seemed to warp and twist inward just before exploding outward with a dizzying flash, just as a man's body seemed to appear from thin air, flying from the central ring as if a doll thrown by an angry child. The unfortunate individual struck the wall nearly completely inverted with a gut-wrenching _thud_ before sliding to the ground in a boneless heap.

"uuugghng…" Seren opened his eyes and weakly tried to pull himself from the floor, the blue glow reflecting almost black from his deeper-blue eyes. He was certainly a sight if anyone had been there to see him; His head had a cut running from front to back along the side, the black leather jacket was covered in small, hexagon-shaped plates that stretched from shoulder to shoulder and down. It would have been considered a form of protection if not for the large, melted cut that stretched from shoulder to hip.

Seren's gaze swept the chamber while slowly pulling himself to his feet; he couldn't help being rather unsurprised at the view with it being one he had seen before many times. While always different in the details, in general it was close to the norm: The softly lit cavern and smooth and polished marble was new, but the pedestal and markings upon the floor were to him a now common sight.

"It's almost always a cave…why can't I get a beach for once?" Seren sighed as he took stock of his situation: His armor was rent, he was fairly sure considering the twinge in his chest that at the least he had bruised a rib or three on his exit from the gate, his chest and stomach were hurting but seemed to be intact, a miracle considering what had cut into him before, and he was tired; fighting a running battle for hours against an always reinforce and persistent enemy did that to you.

The room or chamber had only a single entrance or exit that, when he poked his head out, split off in two opposite directions. There was no sign or indication of what lay down either curving path, nor any evidence that anyone had come through the area recently. The air was still and stale yet surprisingly free of dust. As caves went, this one was already proving to be unusual.

His boots making a dull thud with each step, Seren stepped to the far wall of the corridor and placed his hand on it, eyes shut as he dove deep into his awareness; he needed a way out and only the force could guide him out of this one. A slight hum from his lips was the only sign of action as he first reached out to find the ever-vibrating energy around him, inviting the flow to rush through him with arms his body had never possessed. As he began to feel as though he would burst, he reached out in his mind's eye, and again with a hand that he had never owned, began to twirl fingers he could not feel in circles, spinning in his minds eye loops of verdant power into an ever tightening and twisting knot. Just as he felt that sense of _binding_…he pulled…and let go. The aether, also known as mana…or magic...or just plain energy…in the space around him _snapped_ and burst outwards, guided by the sense of the force he had called on

'_I need a way out….'_ His thoughts echoed his desires as he let the flow of force and energy surge through him before racing outwards, bouncing and ricocheting in an invisible shower of sparks as it flowed through the many corridors and rooms stretching away from him in every direction. Like echoes in the sea, a map of colors and shapes began to appear behind his eyes, quickly building into a maze of seemingly random and intertwining spaces. Finally, a path in his mind seemed to throb, and the understanding came to him: _Up._

Seren frowned however, as he felt areas that seemed…blurred to him. He had used this method of echolocation numerous times before, applying his abilities in both the force and use of the universe's aether to find his way through confusing places, but these empty spots that were…not…were new. One was right around the corner in fact.

Two things happened right that moment. As Seren opened his eyes and turned his head towards the corner around which an…anomaly…existed, a _scream_ of sound and sheer sensation assaulted his ears and senses. Before he could begin to contemplate this however, the second thing happened: A beast that resembled part scorpion and part badger stepped around the corner. This would not have been overly concerning to the still reeling Jedi Traveler, had said scorpion-badger…thing…not stood nearly half again as tall as he, filling the corridor from floor to ceiling and wall to wall.

"Ah…motion…that…isn't alive?" before Seren could ponder the very much apparently alive creature in front of him NOT showing in his mental map, said bagorpion (it was as good a name as any to him) made the first move: It roared almost ear shatteringly loud out of a ridiculously tiny mouth as it raced forward on all 8…or maybe 10…legs, stinger poised just over its shoulder in the scant space above.

Almost without thought, Seren took a step back, left hand outstretched with fingers spread wide, and reached out with his mental arm and with a violent mental twisting pull, snapped aether around him and into his arm. The result was immediate and, to him, quite satisfying.

From his outstretched hand a trio of white and blue shimmering stars, eye-wateringly bright, erupted outwards and almost too fast for the eye to see sped into the torso of the scorpion-badger hybrid. At first, it seemed they had merely burnt small, eyeball sized holes into the chitin armor on the chest before suddenly said chest erupted in a roar of sound, light, and flying cooked flesh. As the body collapsed, a fourth flash suddenly erupted from within the corpse, and the remaining body just…burst…into a cloud of ash.

Before he could do more than twitch his eye at the unexpectedly _complete_ destruction he had just wrought, the echoes of numerous other, and variously pitched, roars reached Seren's ear. Considering the number of indistinct hazes his mental pulse had indicated, and the number of overlapping cries he heard getting louder, a great many other somethings were on their way.

Almost desperately, Seren spun on his foot and, reaching out again towards the pillar in the other room, closed his eye and _reached_ out yet further in his mind, straining to find the magical song he always felt while manipulating a Gate. It was, however, not meant to be. Seren knew from his many previous experiences that a gate into a new plane would often be surrounded by a chaotic current of aether that made interaction almost impossible. Considering the speed, violence, and desperation with which he had entered the previous gate, and thus _exited_ this gate, it was no surprise that the aether within the tuning circles was in chaos. In hindsight, what was most surprising was that he had survived the passage at all. The force that had slammed him so hard against the very unmoving wall had likely saved him as well; the aether, which was only energy after all, was moving so fast that had he remained within even the outer of the 3 rings more than a moment he likely would have been quickly burnt to a cinder. Aether couldn't be seen by damn near anything, but that didn't mean it couldn't have painful interactions with the world. The steady song he was searching for was now a mental wail, and entirely unusable until it calmed…a long time from now.

Already, he could feel the vibration of many, _massive_ footfalls echoing from the floor through his boots. Considering the floor, walls, and ceiling were hard enough that he wasn't sure just how much damage even his magic missiles could do, that meant that what was coming was HEAVY and FAST. Discretion this time was likely not only the course of valor…but survival.

So, he ran. The map in his mind with its burning path to what felt like a path upwards, Seren raced through the dark glowing tunnels to what he hoped would lead to escape. Behind him, he heard the sound of rock shattering, though as turned past corner after corner, he couldn't see that it was in fact the sound of the same walls shattering outwards as monsters similar to his previous encounter burst, fell, and rose from the walls, ceiling and floor.

The dungeon itself was after him.

JiO-JiO

Far above the recent addition to what was known simply as the Dungeon, within a dark, expansive cavern barely lit by the four burning large braziers, an old, hooded figure raised his head at the same time as the entirely shrouded individual in front of him paused mid-sentence, tilting its head in curiosity.

"Something…has happened…"

"Yes my friend…the dungeon is…hungry?"

The god known as Ouranos responded to his advisor's comment, both sensing the sudden change in the earth beneath their feet through their own particular abilities.

"Something has changed below." The founding god of Orario mused out loud. "Inform Royman…", he paused, "…tell Royman to have the guild ready for anything…unusual."

The covered figure bowed slightly as it moved off to do its god's bidding, leaving the God of the Sky buried in his chamber below the surface to muse over the dungeon to which he had prayed for so long, the dungeon that which for so long had seemed a sleeping beast now seemed to mentally coil.

"It is _searching_…but for what?"

The crackling flames of the nearest fire pot had no answer to give.

JiO-JiO

The dungeon screamed, and adventurers paused. The dungeon, the only one like it in all of the world of Gekai, was itself normally to the senses nothing more than a…very…unique cave system. Yes, it not only daily but minute by minute could birth monsters from its walls which adventurers of all types fought, but often did so in a manner that seemed intelligently seeking the demise of those within it. But as unique as all this was, it never made an actual _sound_. But for a moment, every one of the nearly 500 adventurers scattered through its depths, concentrated mainly between the first and tenth level and on the 18th as well, paused mid-step, mid-swing, or mid-anything as the walls themselves for a moment cried out.

"Lilly does NOT like the sound of that!"

"That was new…"

"Lilly and Sir Welf are not wrong!"

The members of the Hestia Familia, a small but slowly and publicly growing familia in the city of Orario, were on the third level of the dungeon, having just entered from above with the intent of travelling down below. With their captain having just reached level three, they all felt they needed to practice as a group again to "get their rhythm" as Welf, a third-tier adventurer in the group, would say.

"Sir Bell…what do you think…should we continue?" inquired Mikoto, the dark haired and eastern-style attired and armored girl that had recently joined the familia, just a week earlier to assist in the "War Game" the familia had fought against another, now defunct, familia.

"I haven't heard that before either Mikoto." The white-haired youth, who also happened to be the familia's recent second-tier reason for coming down today, replied. "But unless we see an irregular or something, I don't see why anything needs to change. Apollo familia is still moving out and I'm not as confident as the Goddess that they'll be leaving as much as they're supposed to. We need this experience and as many magic stones as we can get."

The foundation of a great part of the world's economy, and technology tree as well, magic stones were only found from within the monsters that spawned in the dungeon of Orario, with adventurers in the hundreds and even thousands daily delving into its very dangerous depths to fight and kill the monsters that possessed said stones.

The group continued onwards and downward, cautious, but not yet aware that something had changed below. Elsewhere, in floors further down, adventurers were almost, but not quite, panicking.

"Aggghhh! Elixir…now!"

"It just won't die!"

"When did the stupid rabbits get so tough?!"

Something HAD changed. Monsters throughout the dungeon had, at the sound of strange scream that had come from the very walls and floors, gone not QUITE mad, but mad enough. Monsters that before worked in teams threw themselves at adventures in a mad rush, ignoring wounds that would before have sent them to the floor or running. While not really strong, the monsters all across the dungeon were certainly faster, and seemed to be LOOKING for something. On the upper floors, the same ones that Hestia familia was passing through, lower-tier adventurers found the usually straight-forward creatures suddenly more difficult to endure in groups, and while no one was killed, yet, many groups found themselves pulling back up and out of the dungeon entirely, flooding the bottom floor of the guild with surprised and often wounded adventurers. The god of the Guild was only then realizing something was happening, and warning to the adventurers would come much too late to do much more than make those seeking to enter aware that things would be more _difficult_ that day.

To other groups such as the Hestia familia, the presence of third and second tier adventurers meant that while the sudden increase in aggression was noticed, it was not yet a concern.

That would change later

JiO-JiO

Seren bounced off the side of a tunnel as he hit the corner full sprint, throwing himself forward as a blast of fire suddenly ignited where had just been moments before. He had come up nearly seven levels, and he was getting tired. With each stairway he came to, he would send out a pulse to find the quickest route upwards, but had as yet to find any sign that he was near the surface of the cave, or as he had realized, the dungeon. A couple levels below he thought he had made it, but it was merely in an impressively large cavern where ceiling soared hundreds of feet above.

"Who…the hell….puts…a damned CORE…right on top of a gateway?" Seren panted to himself as he careened through the halls, following the glowing path in the map in his mind. The design of these levels was interesting, almost purposeful with the perfect squares and corners. The halls of the current level were no longer the smooth marble but a burnt and glowing blue hardened granite. For as hard as the stone was though, it apparently wasn't hard enough to step the constant stream of explosions blasting up through the floors from below. He had left behind two levels ago what looked to be various forms of dragons, and they were still trying to kill him through two levels of rock with their bursts of flame. Seeing as how they were burning holes hundreds of meters thick through the stone, he was NOT interested in being hit by that.

So far he had managed to evade just about everything in his way, if he wasn't able to follow a path down tunnels that avoided the monsters entirely, then he was usually able to dive or slide under, jump or roll over, or just knock over the creature in the way. So far, he had only had to blow apart a half dozen different creatures intent on ending him. But that number had recently very quickly gone from one upwards. The monsters were either finding him faster, or they were getting denser.

"Considering how hard these things are…._huff_…and assuming this thing…_huff huff_…is like the others Min told me about…_huuuuff_….then this thing is…_puff huff…_really_…-THUD-_….old…" Seren continued his running commentary as he ran, pondering the existence of what he could only at this point assume was a, very, mature dungeon that USUALLY sprung from a dungeon core. Considering how long it took for those to mature, if they were given the chance, and the sheer difficulty and lethality of the creatures he was barely avoiding, he could only assume he had quite a ways to go to get out. The older a dungeon got, the more, and more difficult, the levels it created. He hadn't actually stopped moving to _fight_ anything because if he did…he was a dead Traveler. One on one, even two or three on one from the various creatures down here he could handle, but one cave that had a giant green crystal growing out of the floor had contained over three hundred monsters alone.

Fighting now was…

'_Shit…'_

Death. Like the speeder-sized spider that just hurtled down and out of the stairwell leading upwards.

His eyes half-closed, he could barely notice the glistening fangs as he listened to the _song_ that was the force singing in what he could only call his soul. It was without thought that his hand stretched out, and with a mental tug, pulled the forearm-length object that had been swinging alongside his waist to his grasp.

-snap-hiss-

Just as the black drooling arachnid was about to collide with him, a yellow/gold blade erupted from the forearm-length metal baton in his right hand, and sweeping upwards, cut smoothly through the eye-covered head of the monster. As he did this, Seren's left arm snapped forward and without thought, called out through the force and _pushed_…and the spider literally split in half from front to end, bursting into the now familiar ash as it did.

A purple rock almost sent Seren back off his feet…as it hit him in the face.

'-_what?' _Easily larger than his closed fist, this rock was an almost perfectly symmetrical decahedron, a ten-sided block, that seemed to burn in his mind's eye. Seren had never actually _been_ in a real dungeon before so he wasn't sure if this was normal, but the sheer _potential_ of the stone was almost vibrating in his head. He had seen some similar stones several floors below when he had blown apart, surprisingly easily too, a giant acid-throwing caterpillar that had dropped a greenish stone, but it was a mere spark to this stone's inferno in his head.

The sound of the several…dozen…absurdly large rhinos that had been following him for the last ten or so minutes echoing behind him, Seren acted almost without thought. Grabbing the rock, he threw it as hard as he could, a push from the force for good measure down the tunnel behind him. Not a moment later, he reached out and fed…just a bit…of aether into the receding, bouncing stone.

The glow this time wasn't only in his mind, but in his vision as the dark purple stone suddenly erupted with a violent orange glow that, just as it struck a wall several-score meters down the tunnel, turned his world white.

"Ow…ow…" -_thud! _\- "OW!" Seren came to as another rock bounced off his head. He had thrown himself around the top of the stairs just as the rock hit the end of the tunnel below him, but even then, the explosion had echoed up and through the tunnel after him and thrown him like a toy into another wall. The tunnel behind him…was simply gone, a pile of rock that filled the entirety of the space including it seemed down the stairs he had just come up.

"Well…that worked…well…ow…" His lightsaber was, thankfully, nearby. Considering he had hit the wall hard enough to, again, almost break bones he was rather surprised he had hung on to his weapon as long as he had. Grabbing it, he kept it in his hand as he ran, his left palm running along the surface of the wall as he again sent out a pulse of aether and force into the world around him '_Out…up….' _The return once again showed a way out, but this time the shimmers of what he had come to realize were the dungeon's creations filled every tunnel between him and his latest objective.

He wasn't being allowed to escape as easily this time.

The tunnels this level were the same, rough red stone as the level below, but the creatures this time were large spiders of some sort. Seren was fairly sure as he came around the corner and saw a pair in front of him that one had the mouth of a piranha behind a pair…no…a pair of a pair…of mandibles.

Knowing he couldn't stop moving, Seren kept up his sprint, and as the first vehicle sized arachnid leapt at him, he slid forward and down below it. He activated the lightsaber just in time to let the blade slice through the creature lengthwise sending ichor _flying_, while from his left hand came a pair of the bright white-blue stars, his _magic missiles_ as he called them, that burned into and exploded out of the second giant spider.

As Seren jumped to his feet at the end of his slide, both creatures burst into ash, dropping more stones on the floor. Considering the sheer scale of damage the previous stone, which had been somewhat larger than these fist-sized versions, had caused…he could use these.

Seren smiled…he had an idea.

JiO-JiO

"The exit to level 19 is secure for now…but I'm not sure if it's going to hold up if something really tries to come up Bors." A blonde, middle aged woman updated the one-eyed adventurer that had been named leader of the town-of-the-18th-level…simply called Rivera…on defenses. Three groups had come into the level, two from the 17th and one from the 19th, mentioning how the monsters had become considerably more aggressive than usual. The hellhounds of the floors above were not that great an issue considering Rivera had considerable stocks of materials that could ward flame, but the acid and poison-beetles from below were a different matter; Flame could be warded against and burns healed easily enough, but poison and acid were much harder to resist against and heal. As such, a wooden gate had been raised against the gate to the 19th floor to keep things out. One of the teams was getting ready to go back down; they had a quest to complete after all. But at least it was a one-way path for the monsters…for now.

"Good job Anise…keep an eye on it and have Marak report if anyone else comes down from above. This isn't anything crazy like that Goliath from before…but I agree with you mages…something _feels_ wrong today."

Bors gave out further instructions before returning to the town; weary adventurers meant lodging and lodging meant money he intended to make.

JiO-JiO

The current and previous level had been similar to the last 8 or 9; made of blue stone but with considerably larger halls. Seren could have marched an army through them and never filled them entirely. Various pillars and random supports, all the same blocky shape dotted the sides almost like art. It was as he raced around one such piece that he found what he had been looking for these last two floors: a place to hide.

At first Seren had thought the dragons below were tracking him by noise somehow, but that ultimately didn't make sense. NOTHING could hear through that many layers of stone and space, especially with any accuracy capable of tracking and targeting a moving target. He had eventually realized that the dragons must have been able to follow him like the dungeon: his life force. There had certainly been plenty of force-using creatures before that could hunt through the force or other such means, since he hadn't lost his connection to the force in this plane, it made sense that other creations or creatures could do the same.

"Finally…I think…I'm going to take…a break little…guy..." Seren gasped out to the purple wheel beside him as he pulled himself into a narrow depression, almost a vertical crack, between two pillars. It had space behind that he was able to pull aside and not be seen. This also gave his new…companion…space to…roll…in.

"I am SO going to kiss Rondal if I ever see him again…if…Gat doesn't kill me first…" Seren had in an armored pouch on his pocket one of his more prized possessions. He didn't actually know what it was _called_…he had had to leave the world it was given to him in such a hurry, but the friend he had made had assured him it would help him out; the small, thumb sized stone held the pattern, or enneagram, of several dozen ancient creatures, to that world at least, that he could "copy" into patterns of aether. One such pattern felt to him through the force like it had once been a mollusk of some sort, slowly rolling through the currents of a long dead sea. It had been perfect for the task at hand.

He hadn't been able to use the stone from the spiders before, as both had helped to collapse the large tunnel behind him, but he had had his first encounter with a herd of Rhinoceroses of all things that when killed dropped similar stones. That fight, and the three after, had required the use of his lightsaber AND his magical arts. Cutting or blowing the creatures apart wasn't always enough because the sheer weight of them often saw them crashing down towards him before they vanished to ash. He had several times had to force the aether into a direct shield, but that was never pleasant because while his body would be protected, any impact would send a wave through him mind as well. Survivable, but damn if he didn't have a headache now.

All that said, Seren had taken the chance to copy into the aether the pattern he had found, using one of the larger and rounder stones as a target. The end result was a stone that would on its own roll around chasing him collecting the stones as it went. He now had a waist-high rolling disc of magic stones that would at need throw stones at enemies pressing him. While the throw itself was rather anemic, with a little boost from a push in the force and a flick of aether, and the stone turned into a veritable explosive missile.

While all this was good, Seren had another problem: he was tired. At last count he had ascended 13 levels of the dungeon at an elevation change of nearly a thousand meters, encountered well over 600 lethal creatures that either wanted to eat him or turn him into goo, more and more of which he was finding himself unable to simply go around, and thrown several hundred magical bolts. As the stairs or ramps up were often separated by several miles of traversable corridors, Seren had realized he had run 60 or 70 kilometers so far. Even for the fit way-traveler he was and experienced Jedi he had become…he had reached a limit.

Hidden in the corner of the wall between the two pillars, Seren reached into the center of himself and simply pulled tightly. He had found by suppressing at times both his magical output and connection to the force, the dragons below seemed to lose track of him, blowing apart completely unrelated areas or not trying at all. With his core, as he thought of it, secure, Seren grabbed from a shoulder-loop a glowing green hypo-pen which he quickly stabbed into his neck. A general-use medical device with a bacta-kyto solution, it was able to quickly heal wounds both internal and external…with some time and rest. Taking several deep breathes, Seren relaxed his mind and found that part of himself that seemed to resonate to his connection with the force, he let his breathing slow and heartbeat plummet. Within moments, he had gone from running frantically through the deep depths of a dungeon to settling deep into a Jedi healing trance.

Through it all, the purple wheel of monster-stones watched and waited silently, as the roar and thunder of Giant Rhinos, the hiss of angry spiders, and screech of baby dragons that had climbed through the blasted holes echoed down the halls. During all this, a desperate man sought peace and health while an ancient crab protected its only apparent child.

JiO-JiO

"Hyyaaaghhh!"

"Take THIS!"

"OOOAAGGHHHUU!"

"There are so many of them! Master Bell… LEFT LEFT!" The prum girl called Lilly called out to her adventurer friend a warning, giving Bell a chance to dive out of the way of a giant club slamming into where he had just stood. The club was easily twice as tall as the white-haired adventurer; a landform that the dungeon grew as weapons for its monsters.

"Thanks Lily! FiiiireBOLT!"

Three flashes of orange light blasted into the troll on the fog on the tenth level, blowing apart first its left arm before savaging its face. A moment later, a longsword flashed, and the head came off entirely, turning to ash after a moment.

_Whew…that was.._

"Ok…what's going ON? …this is insane!"

"I'm…not sure…they aren't as hard to kill…but they don't seem to be feeling pain or something…it's like they're mad…"

"Lilly is…worried…Master Bell…Lilly has not seen monsters act like this before."

The Hestia familia were on the 10th floor and finding that the creature's difficulty, while similar to before, had effectively gone up since even when mortally wounded…they simply refused to DIE as early as usual. Kobolds had made suicide runs, the large ants, even with their heads cut off would attempt to fight for a time, rolling around trying to cut with their mandibles, their bodies running blindly trying to grab anything moving.

"It's not actually hard or anything…but something has happened…ever since that weird noise we heard…the dungeon is different. And we haven't seen any other groups either! It's like…almost like everyone has run away!"

The group stared at the cave entrance in the wall that led to the 11th floor silently for a moment, pondering what lay ahead. The next two levels were considered the dividing point between where lower and upper level 1 adventurers would go. The next two levels were considered extremely dangerous to even higher skilled and rated level one adventurers. Their group was okay with a level three and two level twos, but Lilly was still level one and as vulnerable as ever.

"Lilly is ok with us going forward. If Mr. Bell and Mr. Welf keep the front with Ms. Mikoto acting as rear guard, Lilly feels she will be ok despite the monster's behavior. We should go slow, find smaller rooms to damage the walls so monsters will not spawn and remember which way to escape."

Everyone looked at each other before each nodding agreement. The plan was solid, and if they could keep finding places to limit the birth of monsters by making the dungeon prioritize healing itself then they could keep the chances of being ambushed to a minimum. Destroying walls as they went would slow them down, but they had learned their lesson the first time they disastrously went down so far: fast can be bad.

"Fine then! Let's keep going!" Bell stepped forward with Welf just behind, and the group descended to the 11th floor of the dungeon.

JiO-JiO

Seren was frustrated…as _in actually pissed off_. In theory…and practice…that's not good for either a magic user OR a Jedi no matter what plane you were in, but he couldn't help it this time.

"If I had gone just another TWO…FREAKING…TURNS!"

He was raving to himself as he walked along a small river to the top of a mesa where he had felt the exit to this level. As usual when he got upset, Seren generally felt that he had a good reason. In this case…

"It's a freaking PARADISE right here…nothing's spawning, and nothing saw me leave so I'm not being followed…I could have freaking SLEPT here…ARGGH!"

…in this case he was likely correct. Seren didn't know it, but he had ascended 13 levels to the 51st floor and had stopped to rest and heal less than a hundred meters from the exit to the 50th floor, a floor in the dungeon considered a safe zone where creatures could enter from above and below, but not spawn.

"Ok Rolly…lets go do this. For some reason…I'm having a really bad feeling about this…so…keep it together." Seren joked towards the disc of stones that was still rolling alongside him, crunching along. He wasn't entirely sure exactly how the thing was moving itself, though he was beginning to think it was simply shifting its center of gravity a bit to roll. It worked uphill too, as was happening now as Seren and…Rolly…moved upwards through another dark tunnel to the level above.

"Gah…I can't tell if this place is supposed to look better going up or down!" The level of the dungeon was…nothing. Little more than a vast, red sandy desert plain stretched out farther than he could see, showing there was at least a little curve to the surface. Far off in the distance, stretching around until the met behind him, were the walls of the level, soaring again high above to a red-yellow glowing ceiling.

"Hrrmmm….Rolly…I'm not liking the fact we're not going to have any place to hide as we do this, and while I kind of like the idea of following the walls…but if something, or a lot of somethings see us…we're dead…or I'm dead…you'll be…dead again?" The rolling disc made no sign of either the conversation or humor Seren directed to it.

"Rolly" just followed its child.

_Nothing to this really…my last pulse is leading off in this direction, almost directly across…speed might likely be the best bet here._ Small red puffs of dirt popped up with each step while Seren mused as he walked. Until…

"Let's…ROLL!" With that, Seren picked up a jog toward the exit which looked to be kilometers away. Perhaps ten minutes had gone by when, rounding a large boulder at the top of a slight rise, Seren came to a stop.

"Ahhh…shit." Ahead, in what he could only call a herd, was several hundred…things. They were the first creatures yet that he recognized as humanoid in any way, but unlike the many humanoid species he had interacted with over the years, Seren doubted he would find any personal connections here.

Standing a good 3 meters tall at the shoulder, they had the heads and legs of goats with the torso and arms of a human. Many were carrying stone clubs and wandering in aimless circles. Some were fighting and butting heads, literally, in contests.

Until they saw him. As if time froze still, hundreds of pairs of red eyes at once snapped to his position. Even Rolly, perhaps sensing the impending danger, seemed to slightly flatten out. Time seemed to stand still, neither the Goatmen nor Seren moving until…

"AGGOOOOOOGGHHHAAA!" Like an ancient steam engine, the herd _roared_….and charged. Looking behind him, Seren could only realize that there was absolutely no chance of making the entrance to below. As such…all he could was-

"AAAGGHHHH!" With a passion he hadn't felt in longer than he cared to think about, Seren charged an unbeatable foe. He had done it before, he would do it again.

Sprinting full out, Rolly loyally rolled along behind as the distance between them and over 200 creatures' intent on killing them closed the distance. Just as the range closed to a mere 20 or so meters, Seren cried out and threw his hand skyward, letting fly dozens of his burning stars. At the same time, he reached down and pulled out his lightsaber and ignited the blade…and then ignited the other.

Holding his golden saber-staff in one hand, a rain of deadly light descending because of the other, Seren motioned forward and cried out desperately "Throw!" Steadily, one after the other, magic stones began ejecting with force from Rolly. As each passed over or by his shoulder, Seren flicked each with a stream of aether from his mind, and within seconds over a score of glowing magic stones were hurting towards the herd.

Each rain of destruction met the herd of goat-beasts at the same time. Each missile as it descended, if it struck a beast would burn almost entirely through before exploding in a rain of supersonic flesh and bone. If it missed, the blast would hurl beasts head over deformed tail. Each magic stone struck a beast with the force of a bomb, and dozens more died per impact.

Seren literally could not hear anything as he reached the edge of the dust cloud that had formed from the blasts, the ringing in his ears blocked out the roars of fury and enraged pain from the beasts ahead. The stampeding herd continued forward, weapons raised to crush the interloper when out of the nowhere of the dust, Seren came to meet the survivors, both blades spinning in front of him in an interweaving infinity circle as he continue to run, severing legs and arms as he ran through the beasts, dodging, jumping, and rolling as he continued his way. Behind him, rolling in the most erratic and drunken fashion, his construct followed closed behind. As he continued to run into a seeming calm of the herd, Seren threw his hand upwards again, sending a score of missiles skyward, only to mentally guide them back down: all around him.

As the beasts either stopped to pursue, or ran into range from now ahead of him, the rest of the herd ran into his trap: Death descended from the sky and erupted yet another cloud of dust, blood, and fur.

He never stopped. To stop was to die and he continued to run with the speed and grace only those aided by the force could. Every step struck the ground just right, every shift of weight just enough to accomplish the turn or shift in movement. The speed was incredible, even for a collection of beasts used to running fast themselves. As he ran out of the cloud of red sand and blood, Seren saw his objective, finally, in the distance: A dark speck against the wall, the exit.

Then the earth shook. Only the force kept him on his feet as the ground shattered and broke behind him, releasing to the chase a monster thrice again as tall as the tallest goat-man…with one eye.

From which burst a sudden blast of red light that only the last second swing of his saber stuff reflected. Screaming off into the sky, the red beam struck a growing crystal high above, sending razor-sharps flinging to the ground.

Most of the shards struck the monster-of-monsters in the head and shoulders, eliciting a yet louder scream that thankfully, due to his thoroughly ringing ears, Seren did not hear. The shards fell around him as well, and only the guidance he could never fully explain kept him shifting his body this way and that as pieces large and fast enough to skewer him through fell around. One struck Rolly and shattered into a cloud of tiny fragments, one of which barely missed Seren's left ear.

Now, the chase was on: The beast, followed in turn by the remnants of the herd of smaller goat-men pursued him with a dogged determination, and step after step red blasts of light emerged from the monster's eye towards Seren, only time after time for last second flicks of his wrist behind to deflect the flashes of light back towards his pursuers, or into the dirt flashing by below.

So focused and intent in his mind of letting his joy at the rush of danger and anger at the beasts trying to kill him flow through him, Seren didn't even notice as he suddenly ran into the large cavern that stair-stepped upwards to the next level. He didn't even notice he had left his pursuers behind until he was suddenly engulfed in yet another cloud of dirt.

The massive beast had in turn been so focused on catching the intruder to its floor that it had not even noticed the wall. As such, it had not been crouched low enough to actually ENTER the tunnel and had in turn crashed its head fully and squarely into the floor wall just above. Hitting with enough force to stop its head in place, its body continued forward, almost still running until he was parallel to the floor. The herd that had been following had been so close that when it hit, they continued on below…until they were crushed by the beasts falling body. In turn, the beast itself was suddenly crushed as the cavern entrance collapsed completely on it, it's furious roars suddenly silenced when a final boulder, released from high up the wall near the ceiling, struck it hard enough in the face to shatter its skull. Within moments after himself entering the tunnel, Seren was racing away into the dark from a pile of ash, rock, and shattered magic stones.


	2. Balance is Life

All DanMachi and Starwars content is owned either by NA Yen Press or Walt Disney Studios respectively.

Chapter 2: Balance is Life

He had discovered Hell.

Hell, Seren didn't even know HOW he found Hell when he had been travelling UPWARDS…but to Hell he had gone he was certain.

The massive tunnel he was sprinting through this time was beyond absurdly hot. What clothing he had left that hadn't somehow been cut, torn, ripped, shredded, burnt, or sizzled away would have been drenched with sweat…if it hadn't practically boiled away in the incredible heat. The floor he was running across was smoldering red and cracked with an evil red glow coming from below while the surrounding walls looked as though they had been torched until burnt black, with just a slight shimmer of tempered metal beneath the soot. So…all in all…it looked just about what he expected Hell would look like if he ever arrived there.

The residents were not better either. "For crying out loud! Why do I get stupid walking ROCKS instead of Valkyries?! At least let me die…with a DAMN SMILE!" Seren was raging as he kept up his steady run through this level, his construct "Rolly" speeding along behind him. Convenient for the most part for collecting the stones that he was using as his main method of attack at the moment, the rolling automaton had its drawbacks, specifically in the braking department.

"Gyah! Not this time little buddy!" Seren had just jumped one of the cracks that looked to descend to a slowly flowing river of lava when Rolly came hopping over as well. Several leaps before, he had forgotten to move to the side and the rolling wheel-of-stones had knocked him almost full speed towards the lava. It was a desperation-fueled one-footed leap that saved his life, but the lesson was learned: The momentum-propelled, crab-ghost driven device could neither stop, nor plan it's jumps with any great speed or sophistication. As a result, it tended to land almost exactly where Seren was standing. As the surface temperature alone was proving to be quasi-lethal, the shoves were less than welcome.

-_SLAM!-_ …there were other complications as well.

At the moment, the creatures behind him had to be a good four times his height and a good 50 times his weight, seeing as how the gigantic stone blobs trying to crush him were made of…stone. Unlike Seren, these beasts had zero issue with the pools of lava flowing through the cracks in the stone floor, and with each incredible blow of their over-sized fists, chunks of dark rock and glowing lava went flying.

Seren simply kept running. At this point he had two med-pens remaining, but seeing has how he still had no idea how deep he was, they were best left for a true emergency: the kind where limbs are falling…melting...or dissolving away. Seeing how this day way going, any of the above were perfectly viable possibilities. His headache was back, but this time he was worried. It had been nearly eight hours since exiting, mildly violently, this worlds Gate and he had been running and gunning (in a magical sense) ever since. The living body can be a fragile thing. With the force, and even more so with aether at work, said living body could endure, and cause to endure, far more damage than usual. But everything has a limit, and overly arrogant, less than subtle, and more contrary than usual Jedi were no exception…like himself.

Muscles had been flexing, tendons had been stretching, nerves had been conducting energy well beyond original biological design. Simply put, he needed to rest again, soon. But there was no time for that now! The ridiculously large flame-from-the-eye beasts behind him had been throwing lava and chunks OF THE WALL at him for the last twenty minutes as he zigged and zagged his way through what was beginning to seem to be a larger than usual floor. The smaller projectiles his lightsaber could deflect with ease, but more and more as he slowly got slower and the numbers behind, around, and ahead of him increased, Seren was relying more and more on his mental arts to gently push objects to and fro to avoid being crushed like…well…in this case a human under a really big rock…like the one that just broke another hole in the floor. At least this one made a bridge!

Ultimately there wasn't much to be done about it. The force was guiding him as steadily as ever, it was only his reaction speed to the impulses that were surging through him that were getting slower. Escape through the gate now twenty-one levels below was, and would be for some time, impossible. It was up and out or nothing at all.

_Up!_ The beast in front of him now must have learned from its fellow's mistakes, and instead of an overhand crush against the floor, it swept its boulder sized fist _along_ the floor, trying to catch Seren in its wake. This time it was a force assisted jump up and over the head, glowing eyes going double as he passed over, that led to him sliding down the back with lightsaber held behind, cutting down the back all the while. The beast was a cloud of ash and a falling purple-rock almost before he had hit the floor again. As it raced past behind him, said rock became yet another of a growing collection in the wheel now as tall as Seren himself. Through the break in formation the warrior ran on., chased by the purple wheel driven by a dead crab's ghost.

JiO-JiO

*_thud* "Ugghh…"_

_ "_Ow….when did I get that cut…?"

"Lilly…is liking the idea of not moving for a while…"

The group made up of the entirety of Hestia Familia had just slid down the ramp from the 17th to the 18th level. Normally that would have been enough to escape anything behind, but this time they had been pursued by three minotaur's and…a rabbit.

"Could Mr. Bell…_please_ ask his friends not to be so rough?" Even tired and collapsed over her over-sized bag, Lilly could not help but poke fun at her leader.

"Al-miraj…have nothing…to do…with _me!" _Bell declared once again. As usual, it was either Lilly or Welf that insisted on pointing out how his white hair and red eyes reminded everyone of a rabbit…in this case an ax-wielding, murder-minded…oversized rabbit like the al-miraj of the middle levels.

"Mikoto…are you ok? That minotaur seemed to have…a thing…for you…" As a third-tier adventurer, Mikoto Yamato could normally 'handle' a mid-level minotaur, but this time it had been a bit of a duel between the dark-haired eastern land girl and the oversize landform-wielding bull. Only once it's back had been against the wall of the level had she finally been able to strike off it's head, releasing the stone and ash. What made the fight truly unique however, had been the fact that these monsters had _followed them to the 18__th__ floor._ While not unheard of, it was extremely, almost uniquely uncommon.

"Sir Bell…just….no more cows…please! Oohhh I am so tired…I would give anything for another hot spring right now! I don't care if there are any angler fish again!"

"ah…aaahhh…!"

"oh…yea…"

At that statement the two male components of the group began to turn steadily redder by the second as everyone's mind flashed back to a previous encounter with a hot spring that resulted in…everyone…losing most all of their clothing.

"grrrrr…..Lilly does NOT think that Mr. Bell or Welf need any MORE reminding of that!" As a prum that stood just over half the height of the others, Lilly felt she was somewhat…lacking…in the female aspect. Considering how the Goddess of the familia, Goddess Hestia had bounced around for weeks after the "hot spring fiasco", which of course included _all_ her assets bouncing, Lilly had found herself viewing the entire event rather negatively.

Ah...ah no…Lilly is right, we have more important…things…THING! JUST ONE THING…..to focus on!" Bell tried to get the group back on track while trying not to look at the girls in the group, both staring at him with narrowing gazes.

"We need to talk to people in Rivera, that was too hard, it took a full day to get to the 18th floor, it shouldn't have taken so long." The monsters above had been reacting extra violently to the adventurers than usual, and as a result the traffic from above to below had taken nearly ten hours, where normally it would have taken six or eight with the most resistance being found on the 16th and 17th floors. This time, it was a continuous, ongoing fight after fight.

"Well, on the upside Bell, at least you're used to your new level now. I thought you were fast before but now…wow."

"Yes, Sir Bell is truly setting a standard for Welf and I to follow!"

"Ohhh…Mr. Bell is definitely very good at not being where others want him to be…including monsters…"

The group paused in their discussion at Lilly's addition, eyebrows going up as the brunette prum with hazelnut eyes stared woodenly at Bell, who could only fidget under the intense gaze of the group's supporter.

"Uuhhh…Rivera…?" With that being said, avoided topics could be avoided until later. The adventurers had questions needing answers.

JiO-JiO

"Aaahh…Liiiiittle Rookie…you chose a bad day to visit…" A scar-faced adventurer was sitting in one of the central taverns in Rivera, head resting on the bar when he saw the famous captain of the Hestia Familia walk in.

"Mo…Mord? Are you ok?" Bell and gang were astonished at the haggard look on the normal indefatigable level two adventurer. That the rough and tumble looking human was so exhausted and almost falling asleep in a tankard of ale was a shock to those who knew him.

"I will be. I just got back from trying to escort the Goibnu fools over there down to the twenty-second floor. You kids just come down from above?" Mord inquired as he lay the side of his head on the wooden tankard like an ale-filled pillow, the mismatched group of dwarves and humans Mord referencing in the far corner of the room. Bell and group could only nod in reply as Mord sighed.

"I went up a level a bit before, the hound and 'taurs were tough, but doable. But below…it's a different story. Something's whipped the monsters up fierce and they're lookin' for a fight." The adventurer held up his left hand that they all saw was covered in blisters and bites of various sizes "I've abnormal immunity like lots of folk down here, and they STILL caused this…itches like hell…damn."

With that said, Mord pulled his head up and downed the rest of the still rather full tankard in several straight gulps. Slamming it down, the bruised and now somewhat drunk adventurer stood up.

"I…think I'm going to go find a bunk…that little prum…girl…she's spinning…" With that he walked out into the street leaving Hestia Familia behind.

"Little Rookie!" A shout from the group of down-trodden adventurers Mord had pointed to a moment before had the group's head collectively snap around fast enough that Welf quickly had to grab Lilly's oversized back before she flipped over backwards.

A short dwarf with blonde hair and a red beard stepped up to the group, grinning at the byplay between the glaring prum and grinning smith. "Names' Jorgan…I was wondering…you kid's planning on sticking around Rivera for a spell?"

Bell quickly glanced at the shrugs coming from his friends before replying "um…yea for now Mr. Jorgan…we're not too sure what's going on here…and we thought we'd take a rest for a bit too…Level sixteen and seventeen were a bit of a surprise today…"

"Yea kid, everything is like that at the moment…I was wondering…" Jorgan the dwarf took a quick look behind him at his companions, shrugs were his only response to an unasked question. "Would you guys be interested…in a quest?"

"Huh…?!"

JiO-JiO

Seren collapsed.

Luckily for the Jedi-Mage, he had reached another floor where nothing seemed to be actively trying to kill him. He had left the burning floors behind by again blocking off the exit down the lower level but had to use nearly a quarter of the stones his construct Rolly had collected in the process to bring the cavern ceiling down. Dozens of those rock monsters had been either trapped under or beyond the cave-in along with what looked to be a snake-dragon-unicorn hybrid. Considering where he had encountered it, that it breathed fire really shouldn't have been much of a surprise.

As it was, he was on another level that seemed to be filled with a forest. Instead of random stone pillars emerging from the ground all over, this level seemed to be intermittently filled with conifer trees and large crystals growing upwards. The trees would have fooled him for a type he had seen worlds and universes over, except for what looked to be gemstones growing in the place of cones. And the crystals from the ground…reminded him more of pineapples than anything else he could describe.

For now, the Traveller had collapsed next to a small stream in the lee of a set of several large crystal formations with a tree looming overhead. The ceiling was lit with a steady green glow that already seemed to be dimming. This dungeon certain seemed to mimic daylight; if the dungeon was mimicking the light of day above-ground…Seren had not the faintest idea.

He had emerged onto this level in considerably worse shape than he had the previous refuge; He was covered in burns across his arms, legs and face. His armor, which had been comprised of black leather covered in numerous small hexagon panels was now more panel than leather. His right arm had had the leather burnt away entirely, its armor lost from the blast of one of those snake-dragons and had been burnt well in the process, blisters covered the arm from shoulder to wrist. His shoulder length brown hair that had before had black streaks running through it was now covered in a layer of soot and ash from which his now considerably dimmer blue eyes dimly gazed.

Seren had, once again, hit a limit. The dungeon seemed to react to his presence, and each time he reached for the aether, it received an immediate and violent response from every monster in the vicinity. Every missile he let loose, while slaughtering creatures handily, simply served to enrage others around and was often met with greater number of roars, hisses, and screams. Again, using his lightsaber was almost always out of the question except for the unfortunately increasingly common run-ins with monsters emerging from the walls, floor, and ceiling ahead of him in the way. It was run and cut, swirl, duck and slash and trust in the force to guide his steps. He had that at least and even through the growing haze of pain his body was in, he could feel the steady flow of the trusted connection to the world around him moving through him.

But as he lay back, head resting against one of the crystals shimmering in the now soft green glow of what seemed to be night time in the dungeon, he could not help but remember one of his teacher's favorite quotes from his time in training: '_The more that hits you, the more that will._'

'_Well…I've been hit pretty good…'_

Gazing upward at the tree with it's shimmering rock-hard seeds hanging from the branches, Seren could only think one last thought before sleep, or unconsciousness, claimed him; '_I really hope none of those things hit me in the face…_'

JiO-JiO

"So, if you kids are willing, we would like to head out when the dungeon comes out of the dark. Two floors down, grab a few baskets of Moshfu seeds, two floors back up to Rivera and a job well done." Jorgan the Dwarf of Goibnu Familia had been selling the quest that Mord and his companions had just failed to accomplish with them.

"You've a level three with you, Mord's group was all level two. We ALMOST made it to this particular grove we need with his crew, so with you guys we should be fine! Payment would be 25,000 valis as well as any Moshfu seeds your supporter can grab. Those alone are incredibly expensive to the crafting familias so you'll definitely make good money from those…what d'ya say lil' Rook?"

Almost as one the group turned to Lilly, who tended to be the fiscally tight-fisted…or frugal if you will…of the entire familia. The adventure had been to give Bell and the team practice primarily, but the chance at more money was on the line here.

"Lilly is somewhat worried about this. There are more monsters than we have really dealt with at once before…Sword Stags…Voivres…Lilly has even heard of the hornets that kill you before you know you're hit!" Lilly's hazelnut eyes were wide open as she mentioned the last part, looking truly terrified at the idea of the huge bugs they would have to face.

"But…Lilly…trusts her familia…and thinks that if Mr. Bell hasn't found what he can do yet…this will do it…" With that said, Lilly closed her eyes and gave one last nod "Lilly thinks we can do this."

Jorgan's face lit up like a flame beetle in its death throes, "Great! How does meeting back here in six hours sound? We all get some rest, recover, and try this again!" Bell nodded as he shook the once-again excited dwarf's hand, trying not to wince from the eager shaking "We'll see you then Mr. Jorgan."

"Uhhhh…." Bell looked at his party trying to decide what to do next when Welf stepped in. "So…camp at the pon-?"

Welf paused as Mikoto grabbed the scarf around his neck to pull him closer, "Yes! The pond is an EXCELLENT idea Sir Welf, you are truly a brilliant mind! Let's gooooo…." Mikoto's voice trailed off as she ran out the door and began the dash to idealic pond the Hestia Familia had been shown by the Loki Familia the last time they had descended so low.

"Except Mr. Bell…will _NOT_ be peeping!" With that said, Lilly walked out leaving a bright red Bell stammering with a smith laughing so hard tears were falling.

"Lillllyyy!"

JiO-JiO

The wail started far off in the distance; At first in the white light he couldn't make out where it was coming from, but as it grew closer and louder Seren could start to make out the general direction it was coming from. In this fog however, he could not see much farther than a few paces in any direction. Within moments, the wailing roar had grown so loud as to seem to shake the very bones in his body, it was as though a mighty beast had come to scream out in all the rage it could muster; roaring in challenge as the world around it seemed to grind against itself, a scream of anger and furious terror.

It was as the all-encompassing sound finally seemed to shatter the world around him that he dove to the ground, the noise passing overhead, whipping the fog violently in passing as it began to recede in the distance. Seren started to lift his head-

Seren opened his eyes. The scream was echoing ever more softly in what he suddenly realized was not his ears, but his mind. It had been a dream.

"That…sucked…oh ow…ow…ah fuckshitdamnittohelllll…."

Seren groaned and kept up a litany of increasingly creative curses in increasingly less and less human languages as he pulled himself to his feet. As he came to his knees, he heard a thud which drew his attention back down to where he had lain, where he noticed that mere hair-breathes from where his head had just been laying against the crystal wall, a purple-colored gem-fruit-_thing_ had landed hard enough to embed itself into the dirt.

Eyes suddenly wide-open at what would have been a potentially critically damaging injury, he looked upwards trying to see what had knocked it free. That he could tell, nothing moved above and no other of the strange fruit-stones had fallen.

"Luck…has never stopped applying to me it seems." During his training as an older-than-wise padawan, Seren had heard more often than he cared to think of how luck did not exist, all was the will of the force.

'_Well either the will of the force is painfully morbid…or I'm just really lucky in both directions…'_

Seren grabbed the second to last med-pen from his shoulder holster and quickly jabbed it into his neck, in hindsight he should have done that _before_ he passed out…but things are as things will be, before gingerly bending down to grab the death-defying gem.

"Here Rolly…hang on to this…however you hang on to things…" Seren tossed the gem to his ever silent construct where just before it hit the ground, it was sucked to the side, yet another passenger of the rolling conglomeration of magic stones.

Though still hurting and sore, Seren could tell that even in what could only have been an hour or so…he had healed considerably. The blisters along his arm had begun to recede even without the medicine and various cuts and gashes gained in the last hours looked to be weeks old. If there was anything Seren was thankful for now, it was his habit of always sleeping into a Jedi trance, even when he was in bed with someone soft and…squishable.

The bellyful of water he had consumed before collapsing seemed to have helped with his dehydration, as the eyeball-erupting headache had receded as well leaving his focus much sharper than it had been for several hours. Even what had apparently been only two hours of sleep-trance had been enough to allow him to recover to an aspect of his former self.

"…I am so not 100% though…if I…we…don't get to the surface soon…there's going to be a problem." With that thought in mind, Seren strode toward what was, though he would not know it as such until much later, was the exit upwards to the 38th floor of the dungeon of Orario.

The floor above his refuge had actually been surprisingly empty except for what appeared to be an incredible number of…skull-crabs…running around. Coming up to only his knee, each one on its own was almost of inconsequence…except for the 6 obscenely sharp bony legs emerging from what appeared to be the skulls of various forms of human…or humanoid…creatures. Each had glowing red eyes that never blinked, and never lost focus of him.

The real problem…was that there were _thousands_ of them.

Seren grinned, this…he could have some fun with. The map in his mind he built for this level showed the way out was actually quite simple; The level itself was incredibly convoluted and twisting around on itself, the pitch black obsidian walls seeming to absorb all light not coming from the monsters. However, the actual path out was to simply hold straight and true to the current hall and take left and then a right at the far end of the near pitch-black level.

Stepping forward, he broke into an initially slow but steady jog, picking up the pace as his many bruises and strains warmed up and his body began to realize it was time to work again. Almost as if commanded by a single mind, the sea of skull-crabs began to race towards him…only to be met by destruction.

One after the other in a steady, clockwork fashion, the ghost of a long dead sea-creature felt its child was in danger and began to hurl its shell at the coming threat. As each shell-piece, or magic stone in truth, flew past Seren's head he gave it the now very familiar mental_ flick, _igniting into the stone a spark of aether that _primed_ for the most part an incredibly explosive grenade. As each stone impacted the ground, the explosion created a shockwave that threw hundreds of the small monsters aside, creating a path along which Seren and Rolly could run/roll. Those that came from behind found themselves hurtled backwards by the occasional force push that kept Seren's rear clear of foes.

It wasn't a perfect defense as the occasional monster managed to recover fast enough to race in from the side, but every time with a _snap-hiss_, a golden-yellow blade would burst from the lightsaber and with a flick of his to the right, left, left again and then right, the attacking survivors were cut apart, turning to ash and dropping their own, tiny stones. As the pair raced past the victims, magic stones skittered across the floor as if pulled by a magnet to attach to the Rolly-construct…it was building up its home and weapons to protect its offspring.

Keeping to the almost entirely straight path, Seren reached the exit not long after and ran upwards, leaving a trail of shattered monsters behind. Rolly, which had before been made up of many, fist-sized and larger purple stones, had over the process of the race through this floor gathered hundreds of tiny, fingernail sized purple stones that now covered the faceted body like an almost smooth, facet rock hard shell…that could explode. It was as he looked back at his rolling construct that Seren suddenly had the thought: Just how much of an explosion would his now shoulder-tall magic-stone wheel _cause_…if the whole thing went up at once.

He decided not to think on that too much, especially as he emerged onto the next level.

The room he entered into…was utterly massive. He had been on levels before now that had incredibly tall walls, but never in a manner that still felt so enclosed. Every surface here was white, with shimmering colors seeming to randomly burn from within, filling the space with a near white yet…not…light. This room was a massive circle with wall reaching dozens of meters high, a single exit on the far side. In the center, a pedestal of rock. At first Seren stood silently waiting for the next shoe to drop, but then he noticed the layer of ash covering…just about everything. Either something very BIG or a whole lot of smaller MERELY BIG somethings had been destroyed in here.

Hand to the floor, he sent out his normal mapping pulse…only to open his eyes and let out a string of corellian curses.

"-it's an honest to the stars…damned _MAZE! _This is going to take…a while." In fact, the path burning in his mind showed the way to the exit as actually being fairly close, but it was on the far side of four concentric stone-wall circles, each with smaller paths and mazes within, all leading back and forth until reaching the exit. In a straight line…it was only a few hundred meters. Following the trail…it was miles and miles. He could feel massive vaults that to his sense, were completely shimmering in mental haze. Each was filled with hundreds of monsters…waiting for him.

"I…don't have time for this. Every STEP through that maze is going to be a death trap, and now I know why there wasn't anything major below…it's _all up here._ It's a TRAP! The dungeon has actually set a frakking _TRAP _for me!" Turning around, he gazed up looking for a space over the walls, but there was no divide between the ceiling and the major concentric circles, unlike the maze which he could see through the massive door only reach up half again as high…which was still a good 20 meters tall.

A crunching noise next to him brought his gaze down to where Rolly rested…and Seren recalled a particular passing thought he had just had. A grin slowly began to spread over his face.

"You want to trap me Mr. Dungeon…well you're going to see what that gets you." The whisper hissed out of his mouth, a feral visage coming over him. "I'm hurt, tired, and annoyed…it's time to share the feeling."

JiO-JiO

Adventurers throughout the dungeon paused…again…in mid-step/swing/block/whatever. Those on the 18th floor asleep in the soft glow from the crystal ceiling far above snapped awake as again…the dungeon _wailed._

Welf Crozzo sat up and looked around in alarm from his bedroll in the bushes…the monsters flying above seemed agitated…but did not seem to move to attack, so he steadied his hand on his giant longsword and simply watched.

Mikoto Yamato came upright in the water she had been floating on top of, dead asleep on the surface held up by a single giant leaf. Dark hair hanging to her waist in front of her chest, she seized the katana resting on the rock next to her out and swung it out, ready for what might come to disturb her spring treasure.

Lilliruca Arde had been bent over washing her hair in the water when she snapped upright…just as did Bell Cranell who, asleep on the beach behind a shrub, had also come awake and immediately leapt to his feet, knife drawn at the furious sound…only for him to freeze at the sight before him; Lilly half submerged in the spring a dozen yards away, face growing unhealthily red with her hands over her petite breasts staring back at him in shock.

"_BEEEEEEELLLLLLL!"_

The level three adventurer of Hestia Familia decided to ignore the terrifying sound of the dungeon, and ran instead from the more terrifying, red-faced prum girl.

JiO-JiO

Again, Seren went deaf. Every surface of the level was comprised of white marble, extremely hard and dense. The concentric rings that comprised the core barriers of the labyrinth that was this floor each nearly 20 meters thick.

He blew them apart. Like a muskrat through a skyhopper's windscreen, he punched hole after hole through what was supposed to be a mighty barrier that guided those that traveled the halls to their death. For any who don't understand physics…sound also happens to bounce off marble. But the price was worth it because…

Seren had Rolly.

To be precise, he had a ridiculous amount of magic-stones of various sizes that seemed to react quite radically to even slight bursts of aether. As he came to a wall, he would raise his hand just as his automaton would eject a dozen or so of the larger stones filling it's core, each time seeming to slightly collapse inwards on itself.

As the stones cleared his shoulder, Seren did not simply _flick_ a mental finger of aether into the stones…he _hammered_ a mental _fist_ into them, one after the other, before flinging them with all the strength he could summon through the force into the walls before him.

The blasts were…spectacular. Not only did holes a dozen yards wide blow outwards and collapse around him, but the outer layer sent razer sharp shards flying near the speed of sound through the maze. Monsters gathered even in mere sight of the areas demolished found themselves either blown apart or shredded instantly by the rain of stone death.

Morale, however, was not a factor to these creatures. A thousand could be destroyed and a thousand more would race in. The dungeon has seen to it that running was not an option. But Seren was ready for this.

Striding from each billowing cloud of marble dust, he emerged as a white powder-coated figure bearing a golden-yellow staff of light in hand. Even to the monsters that reacted to bear down upon him, they sensed the sheer volume of _danger_. The anger was palpable even to them.

It was almost a dance. With every step, Seren shifted and swayed, ducked, leaped or rolled forward, his saber-staff in hand burning death and destruction with every motion. Four black skeletons with horned helmets leapt for him, stone axes and swords raised high or swung wide ready to strike. The forward golden blade swept up and forward, burning instantly through blackened bone from hip to chest before the back-blade swept up from chest to skull…perfectly bisecting the ax-wielding monster. Blades raised over his head, Seren brought them back down and to the left and through the next nearest of oncoming foes. One blade was quickly followed by the second as he spun left, dancing around the ball of his foot as he dissected the second monster laterally this time. Continuing the spin, his back now to the third-bearing skeleton, he let the blades swing back behind his head, severing first the hilt of the stone sword before burning a red-eyed skull from supporting shoulders. As he completed the near-pirouette, one final outreached thrust sent a blade burning through the eye socket of the fourth and final opponent.

In but a step and spin, four spartoi vanished to dust as the determined warrior cut them down before they could ever land a blow. Seren merely stepped through their expanding clouds of dust while Rolly, loyally rolling along behind, drew their dropped stones in.

A horned beast standing half again as tall as Seren surged out of the white cloud around him, only for a fist to be slam into, and be halted by, the shimmering shield of green-blue energy expanding from his left wrist. Before the beast could react, a thrust to the chest and a sweep through the legs sent a dying, knee-less beast to the ground before it exploded into yet more ash.

A momentary, rumbling noise was the only warning before a giant 6 eyed blue snake burst from the floor where Seren had stood a moment before. Whipping upright and ready to strike, mouth open to rend its foe, a fist size burning star flashed into, before exploding out of, the mouth of the serpent. It never even realized it was dead.

A flick of a finger, and magic stones erupted from the following construct…another massive wall collapsed…and Seren continued on.

Anger surged through him as he demolished obstacle after obstacle. What looked like a black _sheep_ was force-thrown into a wall so hard it simply _poofed_ out of existence, its magic stone shattered.

A huge lizard-man leapt from a hidden alcove above, only to be seized by an invisible force and _pulled_ into the floor far harder than it had planned. The sound of bones shattering was audible above the sudden screams of agony before they were silenced by a slice to the throat. It's stone soon joined the many others rolling behind.

A black, misshapen obsidian-coated figure burst from a nearby wall, only to suddenly crushed by a flying boulder hurled by an invisible fist from behind. There was no stone from that one.

It was like this that wall by wall the maze that had confounded so many souls over the centuries and millennia was broken down, the foes so well designed for just this battlefield broken and shattered.

It was with the next wave of his hand that the last wall was shattered outwards, the only sign to his deafened hearing the massive purple flash and flying marble powder. As he emerged his destination was right before him, a dark tunnel of stairs leading up.

The sheer _fury_ that had filled his being carried Seren and the construct Rolly beyond the scene of devastation from behind to the dark tunnel before him. With one last wave of his hand, the seething magic stones he threw from his companion brought the tunnel collapsing down behind him as he steadily walked upwards to the next level.

'_This is why I never made a good Jedi…'_

JiO-JiO

Many levels above, a white-haired, red-eyed youth bowed with his head to the ground before his group's (now clothed) supporter as the red-haired smith and raven-haired warrior held their foreheads in their hands.

"Mr….MR…_MR. BELL….._had to…you….you…!"

"I'm sorry Lily! I didn't mean to look! I saw nothing! I am sooooo sorrrrryy!" wailed the pity faced adventurer.

'_You didn't have to run so fast…'_

"Whaa…-"

"_STOP LOOKING!"_

"Agghhhh!"


	3. Death is Glory

All DanMachi and Starwars content is owned either by NA Yen Press or Walt Disney Studios respectively.

Chapter 3: Death Is Glory

The sound of the waterfall was immense, the pounding of water on stone and yet more water was as hammering to the ear as any of the many explosions he had wrought up until now.

Looking up, Seren stared in stunned awe at the sight before him; A gallery of descending waterfalls seemed to connect at least two…no three levels together within the now largest chamber he had yet seen; The ceiling was so far above him its features were lost in the dark haze. The pond or lake in front of him and the exit back down below certainly appeared to go…down into something below. The water flowing in what seemed to be a gentle whirlpool was clear as glass and slightly chilled to the touch when he gently dipped his fingers in. As far as levels went, this one, or rather the three he could see from this angle, were some of the more idyllic he had encountered yet.

_I'm sure there's going to be something that wants to eat me here too though…_

He had ascended through ten more levels in three hours, a stunningly fast pace compared to his previous times, but for various reasons. First, the creatures were beginning to seem…less…than those he encountered before. Granted, he himself was also running on fumes after his enthusiastic escape from the labyrinth, but despite the fugue of weariness again hovering around his mind like a slight buzz he could tell that some of these monsters were just not as dangerous as those below. The green…slime…ball…he had encountered just below in fact was a great case in point; The creature not only seemed to want to flee in terror from his lightsaber, it had practically boiled and _exploded_ when he cut through it.

Also, Seren was _fairly_ certain he had actually _hurt_ the dungeon. The desperate-sounding scream that the walls had emitted had been somewhat reminiscent to the one he heard when first arriving through the Gate, but this time the sound had seemed far less predatory than it did…surprised. As such, he had only had to deal with monsters already roaming the halls instead of constantly defending against emerging or freshly born creations. He was now beginning to wonder when the other shoe would drop; his luck _was_ his luck after all…it was going to take a turn for the worse at _some_ point.

Bracing himself against the wall, Seren let his now oft-used hum-pulse snap out through the floor. After a moment of waiting however he frowned to himself; He hadn't gotten his usual return with its pulsing guide. Thinking about the vast amount of water and space in this area, he tried again. This time, his hum continued for almost a minute, as swirls of energies invisible to the naked eye began to twist and gather in faster and faster eddies around him as moments passed. Finally, as it felt like his skin was beginning to crawl with fire, he let the charge loose with a mental shout through the force; _Up! Out! GO!_

This time, he got the results he was looking for. A truly dizzying array of passages, tunnels, channels, bridges, and causeways began to highlight in his mind. He could see an entire hidden network of water-filled tunnels that linked the three levels together. Two floors higher up, he suddenly felt the strobe of final emission; _Exit Here_ it seemed to say. Seren studied the route in his mind contemplating his choices; This time there seemed to be _several_ paths open to him, from travelling through the network of caves, to scaling the walls alongside the waterfall, to what he suddenly realized was a _very_ long path that seemed to wrap around the entire level in a massive spiral. Just as he was about to dismiss the map from his mental eye, he paused.

_Life._

Before arriving on this world, this mapping method he used was also an excellent way of locating creatures and other entities in his way. While he could 'see' the monsters here, they tended to be indistinct hazes in his mind, more of a "lack of" than a "presence of" sensation. Until now, he had in fact not seen anything that actually indicated a true spark of 'life', that spark of the force that connected all living beings.

Now however, there was something new. And it was looking right at him from over…

…There. Across the pond just next to a smaller waterfall that paralleled the massive and final plummet into this pool, Seren spotted a pair of jade-green eyes peering at him from behind a half-submerged boulder. Said eyes suddenly widened when they saw that they had been observed, and with a flash of bright blue and pale white, whatever it was vanished beneath the surface.

"Hi….Bye…I guess?" With the disappearance of whoever…or _whatever_ that was, Seren suddenly noticed the lack of sensation of being observed. Only then did he realize that he had been watched from almost the moment he had stepped out onto this level.

"Well Rolly…with any luck the next person or thing we run into that doesn't try to kill us won't run away either." Pushing the strange event out of his mind, Seren pondered his options to get to the far side of the chamber two levels up. Off in the far distance, he could just barely make out a tiny depression on the side of an almost sheer path-dropoff that led even higher still. His choices were all simple though none easy: It was either make another lightsaber-swinging, missile hurling, cave-collapsing run through the tunnels; scale a series of extremely steep and likely monster-ridden cliffs alongside the falls, or follow the winding path that seemed to make at least three full spirals around the entire level to reach the top. That one was going to take a while and be incredibly exposed the entire time. Seren winced, just thinking about what would happen if a monster emerged from the wall on the path that couldn't be even a meter wide made his head hurt.

It all came down to tunnels of monsters, short walls…likely with monsters…or a long long long winding wall…also likely filled with monsters.

"What I would give for an infinity stone right now…" The child's toy, a small stone with the near-universal symbol of infinity on it, was often used to produce witty, and usually useless answers to questions posed. "Well…I'm not keen on tunnels for a while, and I don't like the idea of falling hundreds of meters to my death with a monster chewing on my arm…so I think we're going to go with the not nearly suicidal walls of doom. I should be able to lift you up with the force Rolly…so no getting left behind for you!" Seren kept up his running commentary to his as usual silent companion made of magic stones. After the events of the floor ten levels below, Rolly the enneagram-driven construct had shrunk to nearly half its previous size, now being a rolling disc about waist high again, it having expended so many of the larger stones that made up its "shell" in defense of its perceived youngling.

_Well…time to climb_. With that thought in mind, Seren started towards the most climb-and-not-die worthy looking wall next to the falls to start climbing. He was so focused on his intent that he had not noticed the return of that feeling of being closely watched.

JiO-JiO

"Silly…stupid little…philander…enemy of women…" Angry little mutters were emerging in a continuous stream of half-curses and furious lamentations from the lowered hood of the tattered white and red cloak Lilly was wearing. The rest of the group simply kept their mouth shut while the four members of the Goibniu Familia's party looked on with amused grins.

"Something get the little one all riled up? Somebody over there not playing fair?" Jorgan the Dwarf winked at Welf who was leading the expedition with Bell behind him. Lilly was in the middle of the Hestia formation with Mikoto bringing up their rear. Behind THEM came the Goibniu party, each with an oversized pack on their backs waiting to be filled with the seeds of the Moshfu tree. Behind Jorgan came another dwarf that instead of yellow hair with a red beard, was a dwarf with red hair…and a yellow beard. The contrast in appearance between the two was startling at first. The other two members of the Goibniu party were a pair of human men; Longswords rode in scabbards on their belts while the dwarves each carried a large axe.

"Ahhh…not me…" Welf said over his shoulder to the party coming up behind them. "You can thank Mr. Bunny here for _that!_" Welf kept laughing as Bell stoicly looked forward trying to ignore the constant "grrrr"s coming from behind him.

"Ha! It's good to see you living up to that bunny-bunny reputation Cranell!" At this the whole Goibniu part finally lost their composure and began laughing outright. Eventually it subsided as the party continued the trek around the great tree on the eastern side, to the exit down to the 19th level. Located on an island on the west side of the floor, the great tree on the east had nestled in its roots the town of Rivira. On the west, the entrance to the lower levels sat.

"Any questions before we head down? We need to go almost straight down, but we'll have to go all the way out to the edge to the next ramp before coming back. It's one big forest down below, and there are a ton of those damn bugs that keep poisoning people. If you can cut 'em down before they can hit anyone, all the better." Jorgan gave his final spiel, and with everyone either nodding or just glumly looking at the gate that was supposedly there to stop monsters from racing up, he decided they were as ready as they would be.

"Let's go get some stupid seeds…"

JiO-JiO

With one last leap of arms and legs, Seren soared over the ledge, lightsaber spinning behind his head to block the red beam that burst from below…a beam followed quickly by another, and another. Below, the floating-eyeball-rock creatures that had been chasing him the last several minutes broke apart and burst to ash before striking the ground. Reaching his hand out over the ledge for a moment, Seren focused for a moment until…Rolly the rolling rock launched over the edge to slam into the path behind him.

"Two." Holding out his hand, Seren pulled a pair of stones from his construct's shell before lightly tossing them over the edge; A flick of aether later and _-KABOOM-_…the air before him was filled with a cloud of gold feathers as the pair of female human-bird hybrids that had been dogging him the entire climb finally bit the dust…or became the dust. They were dust so good enough.

Using bursts of force and downward blasts of aether, he had ascended the various cliff faces faster than he had expected, but he had still managed to attract something of a following. Still looking up from below were several large crystal-studded turtles. Calling them snapping turtles wouldn't do them justice seeing as one's head had hit a crystal formation on the cliff hard enough to shatter it to pieces. Fortunately, the first he had encountered had thought the lightsaber blade itself was food…that had been something of an anti-climatic encounter.

"But damn those mosquitos…I hate mosquitos! Especially ones the size of my _hand!_" One such bug had attacked his neck before he knew it was there and he now had quite the wound to show for it. From then on however, one hand remained near his lightsaber ready to burn any nuisances to bits, and his mental hand ready to grab anything that slipped by to slam it into the cliff face. Several dozen tiny, fingernail sized crystals were embedded in the cliff faces below where he had pulled them in hard enough to kill them outright. The bite still itched like hell though.

Seren had just entered the tunnel when he again had that sense of being observed. Spinning around, he had just enough time to see a pair of green eyes and a flash of blue hair before the figure once again vanished under the water. With the speed of the sudden non-encounter being so incredibly fast, Seren could only rely on his baser instincts to understand the critical details of the momentary image his mind had caught.

_Breasts…pretty sure there were breasts. _

Shaking his head while he turned back to the path, Seren couldn't help but be amazed that he could still be as juvenile as ever after so long. Rolly the really quiet construct had no comment as they continued upward to the next floor.

For the most part, each level or set of levels had demonstrated some form of similarity identifying it as separate from another. Up until now, Seren had been roasted, drowned, dangled, nearly crushed, and blinded by the various natural effects of the floors he had passed through. This time though he found himself in a-

"Tree? How did I get inside a _TREE? _Rolly…I'm seriously thinking we took a wrong turn somewhere..." No response. Typical. Indeed, the grey stone of the upward ramp connecting the lower and current level seemed to smoothly flow from stone to a form of grey-red wood. Everything was wood; The ceiling, floor, and walls all made of bark covered throughout in patches of softly glowing moss. Whereas previous floors had all had some form of illumination embedded in the stone, be it bubbling magma or glowing crystals to soaring ceilings of…more glowing crystals, this was actually the first level that seemed to try to _hide_ itself. Waving his hand in front of his face, Seren realized that while he could still see, it was nowhere nearly as well.

So it was with a blast of smoke and steady hum that a moment later a burning 'x' was inscribed on first the right, the left wall. The flames that gently licked at where the lightsaber had swiftly struck through suddenly illuminated the corridor in a softly flickering orange glow.

"Problem solved there…except the smoke. Let's go buddy…," Stepping forward, Seren began his usual mapping as he ran his fingertips along the wall. As usual, a glowing route illuminated itself in his mind. This time though…

"…kriff me." Beyond the second bend of the current corridor, the floor was _FULL_ of movement. Some areas had the sensation of clouds which made him think of the recent encounter of killer mosquitoes, and others had a large, but soft feel to them. No matter what they were, they were everywhere. Seren stepped back into the tunnel to avoid notice from the locals and sat down on one of the steps. Rolly, ever the loyaly rolling rock, rolled alongside and seemed to deflate to wait.

Putting his head in his hands for the time, Seren worked to clear his head. He had been in this world for maybe…18 hours now? The entire time except for a few breaks he had either been running, fighting, or manipulating aether in some fashion, often at the same time. Even before he had arrived, he had been in a running battle on Felucia as he moved from the _Rising Fire _to the Gate. The bounty hunters and those new shock troopers the Empire had been fielding had been everywhere. Then…at the end…

Seren shook his head violently, no, that was a thought best left untouched for now. It had been rough and damn if he hadn't been barely holding his own, but he was here now, not back at that shattered and smoking plant-inferno. He had his own, pressing, and new problems to worry about.

"Don't you have THAT right little brother..."

Seren looked up at the man that sat down beside him with a _-thunk-_. The interlocking plates, swords both short and long, daggers in the knee-high boots, red sash around the waist; the man's deep blue eyes were laughing from behind his brown and black locks.

"Seriously Jax? Now? I'm pretty sure I told you off a couple universes ago." Seren turned away from his twin and went back to massaging his temples, hoping his 'brother' would leave him be for once.

Of course, he never did.

"I'm pretty sure that's not what I usually do…are you feeling ok?"

"I'm fine as usual, alright?"

"Ah, that's not good." The armored and armed version of Seren leaned back against the step on his arm to take a better look. "Because it sure looks like you're all beaten up here lil' bro. I haven't seen such a pitiful look of despair on your face since you sank that ship of coffee beans on accident…damn…that had to have been thirty years ago? I heard they're calling the town 'Coffee Drop' or something like that now."

Seren had stopped massaging his temples and begun squeezing his head. As usual, a fellow traveler turned his headaches into migraines, and it felt like his eye was about to burst from his skull.

"Poor coffee beans aside though, you don't seem to be taking good care of yourself this trip. Weren't you going on vacation or something with that purple girl? Naga something?"

"Naya. Her name was Naya…"

"Yea that one, those head…tentacle tail things never did catch my eye…but you always were a strange one, after all this do you think you would-"

Seren stood up without warning and before Jax could react threw a bolt of aether right at him, only for his annoying 'older' brother to raise his hand and send the blast straight into the wall behind him. "What do you _WANT?_ Can't you see that I'm _TIRED?_ I'm _HURT? _Do you _think I enjoy feeling like the world is ripping out of my skull while I'm running on NOTHING?! _What in the stars-broken-griffin-hell _are you DOING here?!"_

He stood there panting after his outburst, staring at the bemused look on the face so similar to his own. "Oh…I just thought I'd suggest you take a break for once, see the sights and all, take a girl on a date after all that galaxy-stuff…but really…am _I…_as in _me…_really the one you should be asking that?"

Seren opened his mouth to reply to the wall in front of him before he froze and realized…he was about to yell at a wall with a freshly blown hole in it. He slowly looked over his shoulder at…nothing. No one was there. Seren licked his lips nervously and tried to swallow past the sudden rush of adrenaline.

"This…is bad. This is very bad. Screaming at a hallucination is so very extremely bad…"

Seren's knees suddenly gave out, and he barely felt the pain in them as they hit the as usual hard stone. Sitting there, heart pounding in his chest, suddenly dizzy and weak, he squeezed his eyes shut as he grasped his lightsaber in his hand and held it until his joints popped; desperation and the beginnings of panic were beginning to course through him.

"Am I _really_ the one you should be asking?" Jax whispered in his ear.

Seren's eyes snapped open, and looking down at his white fisted and hurting hand, he suddenly realized the position he was in. He had been here before, many…many times in fact. Taking a deep breath, he straightened his back, relaxed his fists around his lightsaber, closed his eyes again, looked deep to his center, and _dove _into a Jedi Trance, desperate for quiet and calm and nothingness.

Seren's eyes immediately snapped open again. Head still, his eyes flicked left, then right. The cargo bay was as quiet as ever, the hissing of the recycler was ticking off-beat as usual, and over by Naya's hammock there was-

Without thought he ignited his lightsaber and brought it up in cross guard just in time to meet a blue blade in a white flash. Deep brown eyes frowned over the top of the lightsaber blade that had just met his own.

"You are without focus again padawan! We are almost to Sullust and I need you _here! _I need you _now!" _ Her blade immediately spun away before striking again from high. With an upward cut of his own, Seren deflected the blade before striking rapidly at his Master, twice high and once low before being forced to again defend against a flurry of cuts and thrusts.

"Your use of Soresu and Ataru is excellent Seren, but you have again focused to _closely on the matter at hand_." Without warning the toolbox he had not felt hurtling toward him struck him in the small of his back. Arching in pain, his watering eyes next focused on a humming blade held to his throat.

"Your ability to focus both too little and too much may well be your undoing Seren. I need you here and now, but aware of the possibilities as well." Deactivating her blade, Jedi Mater Anaris Maseet turned from her apprentice to wipe off her face. Seren quickly deactivated his weapon to follow suit, they had been at this for hours.

"We're almost to Sullust and Chancellor Valorum is desperate to see things settled. This whole _dispute_ with the Trade Federation is causing chaos, and worlds like Sullust, Nabbo, and Kuat are getting hammered hard. Considering this is our first task since the council so _graciously_ bestowed us with permission to be Jedi again…I'd say this is mildly important. What were you thinking about just now?"

"I…I don't know actually. It's like there was something so overwhelming…I was lost…it was so confusing…I don't know." Seren shook his head as he tried to recall what had distracted him in the middle of training, but it wasn't coming back. If this was old age kicking in, then the council might have actually had a point…for once.

"Well that happens when you're almost dead. But time for the easy stuff is over, let's go get cleaned up. That little stray you insisted we pick up got the 'fresher ready for us."

"Her name is Naya…and…wait…what do you mean about almost being _dead_?" Seren followed Anaris up and out of the hold of the _Rising Fire_, a ship that if his Master was to be believed, had major sections that were over a thousand years old. Considering the maintenance that had been going into it, Seren wasn't completely disregarding the statement. It either was, or was based on, an ancient corvette design the Jedi had once travelled on, but no longer used due its "lack of elegance", or so Anaris claimed.

As the pair turned the corner at the junction the linked the quarters area to the ops. cell, Seren caught a flash of purple out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey Naya! Squirt! That scanner get fixed?" A short twi'lek girl, maybe 10 or so stan-years popped her head back out of the small maintenance bay she did her tool-work in. A small cute face, especially with her goggle wraps on, looked back at him woodenly, neck-long lekku slightly twitching.

"You know, if you didn't _hit it on a rock_ every time it didn't say what you expected, I wouldn't need to fix it…like I just did. It's on your bunk 'Ser." With that, the orphan they had recently swished up popped her head back into the music-ears and went back to work.

"It doesn't matter, Senator Keyn will be meeting us once we land to arrange the initial talks, so make sure you turn that thing on." Seren paused as he caught up to the conversation. He was about turn down the corridor to his quarters and froze at that last part. "Turn what on…?"

Seren turned around to suddenly find his Master standing directly in front of him, her brown eyes gazing directly up into his own, her chest almost touching his. "When you turn that thing on, you're going to need to run hard Seren. I know things have been rough up to now, but this isn't the first time you've been dealt a dead sabaac. You're going to save that girl and help the boy save you." His Master's hot and stinking breath washed over his face as he stared at her in utter confusion… "What does Naya…"

"Enough about Naya, find her later! You need to turn that thing on _NOW_…and _RUN!" _The typically calm and focused Jedi for once actually seemed to roar into his face, blowing his hair back.

"Star's light Anaris what are you _talking_-"

"_TURN IT ON AND RUN SEREN, RUN!"_

Seren opened his eyes again, the _Rising Fire _gone. Confused, and on his knees for some reason, he just happened to look _up…_into the massive maw that was the jaw of a monster he could not even see around the rows of serrated teeth. It's hot and rotting breath washed over him as it screamed a roar of triumph that shook every bone in his body.

He twitched his thumb…and activated the lightsaber he was still holding.

The golden-yellow blade burst upward, straight into the mouth of the beast and with a single motion of raising his arm, thrust it directly into the beast's brain. A heartbeat later, he was surrounded in falling ash. Beyond the cloud lay…

'_Oh no…'_

"_Run Seren, RUN!"_

His dead master's voice ringing in his ear, Seren leapt to his feet and turned in a single motion to spring back toward the wooden floor he had only recently retreated from. Behind him in the tunnel, in the dim glow of what little moss there was hanging before it, hundreds of red glowing eyes burned, and the walls began to crack from the contained roars and screams.

Seren careened around the corner at a dead sprint, racing for the next turn to the stairs. Behind him, Rolly slid sideways into view, bark erupting into the air where the stones tore it up as it tried to stop. Instead of coming to a rest, it struck the far wall and bounced back upright, before accelerating forward in chase of its not-so-round offspring. The rolling construct had just cleared an adjoining tunnel when-

The explosion sent Rolly and Seren alike flying through the air, actually launching them _over_ a pair of large, bush-like creatures that had just…rustled…out from their hiding place. Back where the Jedi and rolling storage-rock had been only moments before, the massive hall had simply…vanished. A dragon's blast had not only taken out the wall, but the wall beyond that and the wall beyond that. With no supports, the ceiling collapsed into what was rapidly becoming a blazing inferno bringing down with it a massive tree and monsters from the floor above, all dying in the intense heat.

The dungeon had found them. Seren had noticed earlier that the creatures he had been encountering simply were not as…dangerous…as many of those from below. From dragons able to burn through hundreds of meters of rock and scorpions the size of tanks to…lethal shrubs and what _apparently_ were large angry hornets, the monsters spawned in these levels were decidedly…tamer. As such, the dungeon apparently did not simply seek to overwhelm the intruder from below with yet more monsters that were most certainly, individually at least, no match for it; Instead, it decided to pursue the interloper. All the way up. Dragons, massive snakes, badger-scorpions, club-wielding goat-men, armed skeletons and more had, as the dungeon cleared the many collapsed tunnels Seren had caused, pursued him from below. And now they had found him.

Skidding around the next corner, Seren's earlier pains had vanished; There was no sign of weakness or strain as his saber-staff separated into two pieces and cleared the path before him as he went. The hornets in the area had flooded towards him, attempting to stab him with stingers the size of a large finger, but as he ran they simply collided with the moving wall of humming energy that never missed. Hornets exploded into ash by the tens as he ran. With no intention of doing so, Seren slid to his knees and bent backwards, only to look up at the ceiling and massive club that passed over his head. Even as he slid under the arm of the massive, goblin-looking creature, one of his blades was spinning around his wrist and up through both arms of the monster, literally disarming it.

Even as he came out of his slide, he was moving up and onward; His mind had completely relaxed, he was aware of his arms and legs moving almost of their own accord as he, for the first time since truly arriving in the forsaken place, listened to the song inside him.

To the Jedi, the force was, is, will forever be, and is all that need be considered. For the Jedi truly in _tune_ with the force, it is a power that flows through them, connecting them, linking them to life itself. It fuels them, protects them, guides them to their destiny. It aids them in their time of need and acts when called; not in command, but in times of true need and absolute trust.

The monsters of this dungeon might not be alive in the sense that Seren was used to, but they were not cut off from the essence of life that linked entire universes together across distances that had neither length nor space. And so, as they acted, the suddenly revitalized Jedi responded.

The massive, four-legged brown creature with tusks as long as it was tall tried to crush him against the wall. Instead, Seren leapt from the passing tusk to the beasts' head, where a pair of saber-blade deep burns tri-sected its brain. Seren was leaping even before the first ash appeared. Even before he landed, he was spinning, arms outstretched; The pair of man-sized beetles on two legs leaping from those holes in the walls fell apart.

"_Run Seren, Run!"_

Seren ran. Rolly rolled. A Horde followed.

JiO-JiO

Lilly was flying. Her face was glowing with joy as the wind raced by, her limbs spread out as she soared through the air…and grabbed another seed. Just as she grabbed ahold of the large, rock-hard purple seed/fruit thing she began her descent…into Welf's arms. Of course, the seed bounced from Lilly's hand and rolled away once again. Grabbing the seed apparently wasn't hard for her…holding on to it at the bottom was.

"Throw Lilly again!" She beamed at the exhausted smith, who had for the last 5 minutes been steadily launching Lilly into the air to grab the seeds from the middle branches of this Moshfu tree growing on floor 20.

"Yea, I think not Lil'e, that bag of yours is going to burst if you try to squeeze any more in it." With that, Welf set the trim prum back on her feet, who started to straighten her disheveled clothing after the game of 'Catch the Prum' Welf had insisted on playing. Indeed, as Welf had pointed out, Lilly's usual, over-sized pack was even larger than usual; It was stuffed to the brim with the valuable seeds they had been picking. Red stems could be seen poking out of the side pockets, and several had been tied to straps on the outside. The Goibniu Familia's packs were not much different, as the broken room's now mostly empty trees attested to.

The moshfu seed was, as Lilly had observed, incredibly hard, to be confused with a rock in fact. When heated, however, it became both incredibly malleable, and secreted a thick oil that smiths had found enhanced the tempering properties of any known metal. It was in fact a core component of crafting together adamantite weapons and tools. Welf had already claimed a number of the seeds for himself for the gear he was already planning on making for the party when they got home.

"Jorgan, ah…are you guys almost ready?" The Goibniu members were in fact quickly strapping their packs and bags closed, even their pockets were filled with seeds. One of the humans, Martel was his name if Bell remembered right, had even tied several to his belt. The walls of the room had been hacked and blasted open to prevent monsters spawning, but the healing the dungeon prioritized was obviously in motion and many of the gashes were narrowing to small cuts and scratches. Considering they had additionally stripped the majority of the trees bare of their lower hanging seeds, Bell was thinking it was time to go.

The blonde-haired dwarf opened his mouth to reply-

The seed that Lilly had dropped bounced, its hard shell making a surprisingly sharp _POP _sound as it struck the equally hard wooden floor.

Almost like an omen of the Gods, everyone stopped to stare at the suddenly and intriguingly athletic seed. A moment passed and Jorgan was about to continue his words from before when-_POP!_

This time…there was no doubt it had jumped, nor did anyone miss the deep and rolling shake in the floor beneath their feet.

Mikoto looked up at the Moshfu trees with their suddenly swaying limbs, "Another earthquake?" _POP!...boom._

There was no mistaking the sound this time, something, somewhere had just hit something else hard…extremely hard. Bell looked around at the suddenly much tenser faces in the room before focusing again on the dwarf in front of him. The levity from the older and shorter man's face was gone.

"We need to go…now." No one argued as they followed Bell out of the chamber, Lilly grabbing her escapee seed as she followed behind while trying to settle her larger-than-usual pack on her small shoulders. "At least we got the seeds…"

The combined party was moving at a steady jog through the large wooden tunnels back to the upward level and to Rivira. They had cleared the area on their way down, but they kept their guard up as they moved back the way they had come. The shakes and concussions from what they realized were coming from below were getting both louder and more frequent, and the adventurers found their pace steadily getting faster as the sense of urgency and impending doom grew thicker and more oppressive; something was coming.

"Lil' bit! Don't fall behind!" While normally more in the center, Lilly was slowly dropping back out of formation as the combined weight of her extra-burdened bag bore down on her combined with the steadily increasing speed of the party comprised of all level two and above adventures…except for her. "Lilly is good! Lilly's here! Don't…slow…down!" She put on a burst of speed, stretching out her legs as far as they would go to keep up.

The party was travelling down a large corridor, dozens of meders wide and equally as tall; Walls lined with spiraling vines of glowing moss wrapping around trees served as supports for the ceiling. At the end, they could see the large opening marking the entrance to the stairs to the next level, it curved off to the side as it snaked around, climbing and returning to connect to floor 19 somewhere above.

The party had perhaps a quarter more left to go, maybe just less than half a kirlo remaining. So long as what ever was happening remained on the floor below _stayed_ there then they should-

The dungeon was lit with a mighty flash and _-boom!-_ from behind at the far end of the level, almost out of sight. The party came to a skidding halt, with Lilly not being able to stop in time, she slammed into Mikoto who had just turned with Katana half-unsheathed. The poor eastern girl had no time to react before she was buried under prum and bag whole. Even in the moment of worry as the group gazed into the distance at the billowing smoke emerging from what had apparently been an impressive explosion, smirks and grins flashed at the momentarily shattered tension and muffled sounds coming from below the massive pack. Welf simply grabbed it and _rolled_ it over, literally rolling Lilly to her feet in the process. Below where she had been, Mikoto was red faced and gasping for air as she started to struggle to her feet.

Before them in the distance, another massive explosion had sent flame, stone, and burning wood hurtling in every direction. What seemed to be a massive fire had started; black smoke was billowing in giant swirls as air was sucked into the flame from what appeared to be two directions; _Something_ had just blown a hole through the floor of the dungeon.

"Wha….?" "Not possible…" "…_look!_"

Out of the swirling smoke suddenly ran a figure, what at this distance appeared to be a person in tattered clothing, smoke and embers flying from his body. What looked from there to be a glowing staff was held in one hand and the in the other…something seemed to shimmer and sparkle. It was hard to tell, considering how far they were as well as the swirls of dust and smoke already beginning to fill the far end of the level, but it was almost as if-

"What is _that?", _Lilly pointed at the…thing…that had suddenly raced…or was it rolling…out of the conflagration behind the figure sprinting in their direction. It seemed to shimmer and flicker in the light; The entire tunnel which had previously been so dark with the intermittent glow of the moss on the floor had been lit up with the twisting and shifting glow of the fire in the distance. Shadows danced every which way and suddenly the corridor appeared as though it had come to life and was reaching and grasping for the adventurers. In the distance however, all they could truly make out now was that beside the oncoming adventurer was some form of shining disc, standing almost chest height.

"Is he…yelling…something?" Mikoto and the others could see the man running in their direction, or the black outline of him against the flames at least, waving his arms and perhaps screaming something; The distance and the roar of the spreading flames that even now they could hear drowned out the man's words however.

Jorgan the Dwarf opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was about to say once more never had the chance to be said as the _reason_ for the sprinting man emerged from the blazing inferno behind him.

Like a massive wolf stepping from its lair, an enormous, red reptilian head erupted from the fire, quickly followed by a long serpentine neck and massive legs. The flames below it were snuffed out as the huge feet crushed the burning debris beneath feet the size of a small house, individual claws the size of a grown man digging ditch-deep gouges from the floor. With a mighty roar, the red dragon, what the adventurers had only ever heard referred to as a Valgang, opened its mouth and let loose a blast of flame and sound at the adventurer that had been evading it for so long.

"Noo!" "Ah shi…" "Damn…" The adventurers had been frozen in place, and on all their faces was written the same expression: a combination of horror and sorrow as the adventurer that had somehow managed to run from a dragon was finally and suddenly consumed in flame. The sound of cracking and thunder was heard as the suddenly superheated floor expanded and began to break apart under the intense heat. But as the flames began to fade…

"NO!" "You're kidding!" "…" Out of the flames ran the stranger, a large, hexagon-shaped shield shimmered behind him, lightning flickering across its surface as the last vestiges of flame licked at it. Alongside him still rolled what now they could see was a large…round…rock…that shimmered in the firelight. Before anyone could celebrate…the true reason for the man's flight emerged from around the dragon clawing its way up from the floor below: Around, alongside, and over the massive dragon, monsters of every type swarmed. Black rhinoceroses roared, foimoire ran with their clubs held high, massive spiders raced along the walls with venom dripping and squirting from their fangs. Several winging harpies had risen on the wind currents from the fire to the ceiling where they looked down at their prey as a formation of spartoi skeletons emerged unscathed from the inferno below the Valang Dragon's belly…it was a nightmare of epic proportions made all the worse in that so many of these monsters were _not_ _supposed to be there._ This was the 20th floor, the floor of vines and bugs, sword stags and trolls at worst. These floors and the monsters on them were recommended for adventurers level 2 or higher, the level twos at least being advanced enough to have C's or B's in their status. The creatures charging down the massive hall were typically fought by level 4's at the lowest, often by 5's and 6's.

Someone, no-one was really sure who it was, suddenly broke from the shock the sudden appearance of the most advanced monsters known to the dungeon had caused and did the logical thing: he or she turned and ran screaming to the exit. Like an explosion of common sense, the combined party of Hestia and Goibniu adventurers raced away from death as they knew it.

Seren, racing towards the now fleeing backs of the first people he had seen since arriving in this plane, could only sigh in frustration as his force powered and guided limbs ate up the meters between him and the way up.

'_At least they finally listened to me…'_

JiO-JiO

As the town of Rivira shook again, a bit harder this time, Bors the unofficial leader of Rivira stepped out from his Pub and looked around. The last several minutes had seen the ground shaking more than it had in some time, and it was getting worse. He had at first thought they were more earthquakes but now…he was growing uneasy.

"Marak!" He yelled at his deputy, if he had such a thing, to get over there. "I have a bad feeling about this…gather everyone up and get them at the lower gate, ready a line and get the mages setup to bring down the big stuff. Something…isn't right here." The red-furred chianthrope adventurer raced off to do his bosses bidding as Bors stared at the ground, wondering what was going to hit the town next. He did _not_ want to have to rebuild again _already._

JiO-JiO

Seren had finally reached the end of the hall. Skidding to a stop, he turned to face back at the horde of monsters charging towards him and held out his hand. "Three _NOW_, big ones please."

Naya had never understood his habit of being polite to droids and automatons.

'_It's a droid! It has a job! Do you thank a hyperdrive for getting you from point A to B?' She had been leaning over the table in the kitchen, her purple skin flushed even deeper…purple… in frustration. Seren had just grinned at her and pointed off to the side. His small survey-droid, a small disc-shaped creation with extendable arms and a single eye-stalk was racing around the floor chasing a string._

_Seren hadn't said a thing, just raised his eyebrows at the teenage twi'lek girl who had been their mechanic for almost six years. 'THAT is a MALFUNCTION! You told it to CLEAN UP the string…not CHASE it!' 'So? I just need it cleaned…it doesn't have to be now. So what it has a bit of fun?' _

_Their mechanic had simply growled at him with a glare before stalking away, cursing stupid men and their stupid toys and their stupid droids._

Seren _always_ said please_._

Rolly, the artificial construct holding a copy of the spirit of a dead sea-crab-thing, seemed to recognize the urgency of the situation and a moment after the request ejected three of the larger magic stones making up its core into Serens palm with bone cracking force. Ignoring the pain, the Jedi Mage turned and with every fiber of his being, _threw_ the stones at the oncoming pile of monsters. Pushing with the force as well as providing a blast of aether behind, Seren this time kept up a constant _stream_ of aether into the stones. By the time they were halfway to the front line of monsters, they were shining as bright as any star. Seren made it around the corner just as they struck.

JiO-JiO

Bell felt like someone had just hit his feet with a hammer, launching him and everyone else up and into the air as the entire floor between him and the exit they had _just_ come out of a minute earlier _buckled_ upwards, before settling and beginning to collapse to the level below. Blue, purple, and red flames licked upwards through the freshly shattered floor to light the level with an eerie, shifting glow. Everyone was stunned at the surprise attack, if that was what it was, from below.

Bell's red eyes widened in panic as the segment of floor he was laying on, the harsh wood having cut his hands when he hit, suddenly sagged downwards. "Go! GO GO GO!" No one else really _needed_ the inspiration as all across the large hall sections of the floor were beginning to break apart entirely. Everyone quickly pulled themselves to their feet and ran, panic continuing to do nothing but grow in their chests, even the eyes of the seemingly experienced and wizened members of Gobnoi Familia were wide with terror and confusion.

All of the adventurers except for one, that is. Lilly had come down hard on her side, hitting both her head and knee on debris that had been thrown from the floor in the blast. As she blinked stars from her eyes and tried to stand, her left leg gave out, pulling a harsh cry from her lips. The others; Bell, Welf, even Mikoto who had been looking out for her, didn't look behind as they ran. Lilly began desperately pulling herself forward, trying to yell out to her friends, but the fresh wave of smoke that wafted through the hall made her cough and gasp as she tried to get a clean breath.

Bell had raced forward with the rest until he suddenly realized something important seemed off. Grabbing the wall to catch his momentum, he turned to look at his companions as they ran by…dwarf…dwarf…human…human...another human…yet another…where was the prum? Where was _Lilly_? Looking back at the way they had come and the increasingly shattering floor, his heart froze. Lilly was on her hands and knees trying to move forward, blood streaming down her face and it looked like her leg. Their eyes met, and Bell began to step forward when-

A shadow burst from the smoke. A massive red and purple spider erupted from the smog and landed beside his prum supporter. Before Bell could raise his hand to cast his spell, or even open his mouth to scream his friend's name…it died.

JiO-JiO

Lilly heard the crash of something heavy landing behind her, and as she rolled over to her side she could only stare up past the edge of her supporter's pack at the spider that could fit an entire prum girl in it's mouth. Colored droplets of…something…dripped from the fangs that were spreading to fill said mouth with said prum girl when…

_-snap-hiss- _From the smoke from which the arachnid had just come, a glowing yellow-gold blade erupted from a forearm length hilt. The body holding it crouched as it hit and immediately leapt at the arachnid. A slash across the face sent the mandibles tumbling back into the dark, and as the beast recoiled, standing on its hind two legs, the stranger that had been following them made a jump that carried it to the creatures' belly, and plunging it into it's depths, jumped again upwards, cleaving the creature almost in half. Just as he landed again next to Lilly, it burst into ash, its magic stone dropping to the floor…which suddenly shot to the side of a purple…thing…that just then crashed down next to where the beast had just been.

JiO-JiO

The stranger that had been chasing them had somehow managed to catch up. Landing beside his friend Lilly, the floor that had been so abused by the explosions, flames, and falling spiders suddenly lurched yet further, flames licking up all around them. The man in the armor…or if that's what it was since it wasn't in many pieces, reached down and grabbed at the girl Bell had promised to always be there for. Before he could move forward to help, the stranger turned back towards Bell…and with a grin he could see even from there…threw Lilly.

JiO-JiO

Seren couldn't hear anymore. He couldn't feel. The sensation of moving his body was simply gone. The roar of the force flowing through him was all he knew, and he was only vaguely aware of the motions of his limbs as he leapt the freshly made crevice that spanned from the exit of the tunnel to a section of the floor that had yet to fall. As his boots struck down, he realized he had just landed next to one of the people he had been chasing after; a short girl with brown hair, as well as one of those ugly spiders that had tried to eat him thirty floors or so below. His weapon moved almost with a will of its own, and he watched as his blade made a perfect semi-circle through the air as he twisted to the right, bringing the lightsaber back to his shoulder and through the mouth of the beast about to have a snack. One jump, then two later and he was flipping over backwards and landing again beside the cloaked girl.

Looking down, he took status of who he had just rescued. She was wearing a tattered white and maroon robe and had on, of all things, a pack that looked like it needed a repulsor or two to move. Reaching down he rolled her over to grab her cloa-…

The cloak she was wearing, along with the shirt beneath, had been torn at some point; Likely when she had plummeted out of the sky after being tossed upwards by the floor he had accidently destabilized. A cut ran vertically down the chest where the fabric had pulled or been caught and more female skin than he had been expecting was showing.

Seren couldn't help but grin, he _always_ met the girls at just the wrong time. Ah well. Grabbing her cloak on both sides of the rip, he pulled her up towards him and looked her in the eyes with a smile. "Have a nice flight!"

JiO-JiO

The spider dead, Lilly stared at her rescuer. Even in the dim glow of the moss and flames, she could see he was a mess. Soot and ash covered his entire body. His hair was at least two colors, but she couldn't see just which through the dirt and what was definitely blood and likely other…things. His broad chest would have been bare if it had not been covered in a web of linked metal plates that seem to have survived whatever had destroyed the remnants of what looked like had been a leather coat of some sort. Surprisingly, despite the shape of his upper body, his lower body, albeit just as filthy, was covered in an intact pair of black pants that shimmered with a strange sheen and metal, segmented boots that went up to his knees. Below a pair of dark blue eyes that almost glowed with an inner light, a bright white grin was gleaming at her.

It must have been the shape of the grin or the focus of his eyes, but it was only then that Lilly looked down and realized the state of her shirt and cloak…or rather the lack of the afore mentioned articles. Before she could do more than gasp and start to raise her hands, that gleaming smile said something she couldn't really hear…and then she was flying.

JiO-JiO

Bell could only look on in shock as his prum supporter was turned into a missile, and stared at her as she came flying towards, and then over him. Her scream as she was launched changed timbre as she passed overhead, and his eyes broke contact with hers and looked down at…oh…

"_BeeeeEELLLLLLLLLLLlllllll!" _

Bell swallowed from something entirely other than the smoke, and after seeing the stranger heading his way, continued his escape. He would deal with Lilly later.

JiO-JiO

Welf was running alongside Jorgan the Dwarf leading the fleeing adventures. Beside him, his heavily burdened companion was panting. "I'm…wasted….on cross-dungeon….we dwarves _huff_…are natural sprinters…_puff puff_…very dangerous…_huff_over_huff_…short distances…"

Welf grinned as he was about to gasp a reply when he heard Lilly's strange scream as she passed overhead like a prum-projectile.

"…_eeeellllllllll….ll….ll…" _Welf and Jorgan stared in shock at the prum girl…something had _thrown_ her…as she flew overhead and down in front of the running pair. When she hit however, it was perfect, almost beautiful. Striking pack-first, Lilly was star-fished across the top before bouncing in an ever increasingly fast spin as she continued to bounce down the tunnel.

"_ll!…ll!…ll!…..lllll!…."_

"What was she saying?" Welf had no reply for the dwarf as they ran finally to where their prum friend had finally come to rest against where the long corridor finally made, _finally _its last turn towards the safe zone. Lilly was sprawled out on top, hanging almost upside down still strapped to her over-sized pack. The two men's eyes almost crossed seeing her state of dress, but quickly focused on her eyes…which were themselves completely unfocused and spinning in circles.

"…_Mr. Be…ll…..kill….Lilly…..will…you….."_ Welf and Jorgan could only look at each other in confusion as the rest of the party caught up. "Stop just standing there, _Grab her!_" Mikoto screamed as the other Goibniu adventurers ran by…eyes open wide at the sight until Mikoto slapped them with her sheathed katana.

"Be gentlemen damnit and _run!_" The human and dwarf smiths standing over the insensate girl simply shook their heads before each grabbed a side of her pack and ran…prum girl dangling limply from the straps.

"…_Bell…..kill…."_

JiO-JiO

Bell had taken maybe a dozen strides when from behind came an incredible crash as the traumatized floor finally collapsed in a blaze of dust and burning bark. Immediately after however came an immense roar as monsters began swarming up what had suddenly become a ramp to the next level. Looking over his shoulder, Bell could see the stranger and the odd wheel that somehow rolled alongside him -'_Are those magic stones?'- _running forward, but out of the fresh clouds of debris three black skeletons came crashing down, as though something had thrown them forward…like the massive red dragon tail that for a moment whipped out of the smoke before receding. The three monsters hit the floor all around the haggard-looking man with weapons raised.

This person he did not know had just saved one of the people he most cared about in life. Bell couldn't even imagine what he would have done had this obviously high-level adventurer from nowhere not been, and done, what and when he did what he did. Spinning in place even as he was still moving forward, Bell let his feet slide across the floor while crying out: "_Firebolt! FirrrreBolt!"_

Three, then four more blasts of flame erupted from his palm and flashed towards the monsters standing ready to strike down this as of yet nameless stranger.

What happened next made Bell's jaw drop.

The man _stepped into_ the swarm of fireballs, gently bending and twisting ever so slightly as each bolt flashed by on one side and then the next. One passed so close his hair whipped up around his face, smoke drifting from the singed tips.

Bell was a level three, and as such his magic was not weak, but against monsters of what would be the 37th floor, they were only damaging, not destructive. The flames scorched the skeletons and spun one half-way around, but other than, at most, weakening them, they certainly did not stop them.

The stranger did that. That yellow-gold blade erupted…and erupted again…from the hilt he was carrying and with a kneeling slide to the left followed by a standing lean back to the right, the spinning twin-bladed weapon cut first through the knees, and then the chests of all three spartoi before shutting off, the pulsing hum leaving a sudden stillness in its wake as all three monsters turned to ash, having never even touched their prey.

The man looked over his shoulder at Bell, that grin still in place under eyes that Bell suddenly realized didn't look…all together there. Before either could say or do anything, a roar shook the chamber. Both looked back at the burning ramp where from the smoke and embers emerged, along with a slew of other monsters, the red dragon.

The Valgang Dragon had seen better days. It's left wing had been sheared off and front left leg, likely in the blast that de-winged it, had been almost entirely severed and was dragging from where the joint was bound by white tendons. The same cut continued the length of the left side leaving a deep gash oozing blood. More astounding than this was the damage to the monster's face. The lower left jaw had been blown away, and from the now ever-gaping maw, burning saliva dripped constantly, flames belching from the hole in the dragon's face.

Needless to say, the monster was beyond enraged.

The adventurers ran again, as the monsters behind ran, flew, and hobbled after in pursuit.

JiO-JiO

"Bors! _BORS!"_

Marak, Bors' lieutenant, came sprinting up to him where the leader of Rivira was standing with the mages overlooking the entrance to level 19 at the base of the great tree. Many of the adventurers that had been trapped there had arrived to either help, or more likely, watch and see what happened as the sounds of explosions and roars grew closer.

"Selena was in the tunnel watching at the first bend downwards. She just came up and said she saw a group running up the staircase. It's Little Rookie's crew. They're moving fast and she was pretty sure something was chasing them. Plus…lots of smoke."

Bors nodded and thought for a moment, "Get everyone who can use a blade or shield and stand them in a line. Half-way up the hill from the gate, give the Rooks' people some space to move once they're out so what ever shows up after them has to come out. I'll get these mages chanting…if things look bad…we'll let em' loose."

Marak nodded, ears tight to his head as he raced back to get the adventurers straightened out.

"And tell them that if they want to come BACK when this is all OVER…THEY'LL STAND IN THAT LINE!" Bors screamed after him in afterthought…adventurers always took the easy way out.

JiO-JiO

Within the great tree, there was, after a small tunnel entrance, a large vertical shaft with a spiral staircase that wrapped around it that linked levels 18 and 19. It was up these stairs that the Hestia and Goibniu Familia adventurers were racing. Fortunately for Welf and Jorgan, Lilly had finally snapped to after her ping-pong flight down the tunnel and was running on her own two feet, though still with her fist wrapped around Welf's scarf to help pull her forward and up. She could hear through the various sounds of gurgles an ongoing litany of threats of payment and revenge her familia member was making.

Bell and the stranger were below, making their way up, but the vanguard of monsters had reached them, and both were sending blasts of red and blue fire and energy into the horde below that was also running, climbing, and flying after them. Purple and red streaks followed the path of the 'Little Rookie's' blades as he cut at the harpy that had bypassed the Jedi below and was trying to knock him off the steps with gusts from her wings. Blasts of his firebolt had kept it from pursuing his friends higher up, and he was in a running stalemate with the flying monster.

Below him, the glowing staff had somehow become a pair of glowing sword-length blades, and every turn or so the bruised and bloody adventurer below would spin about, and in an incredible display of agility cut through two or three monsters about to surround him, before sending more falling back below by throwing a bolt of that blue energy-lightning he was using. Like Bell's it seemed to be a quick-cast as he never heard any chanting. Each time he did this, the man would toss one of his blades into the air, let the bolt fly, before grabbing his weapon as it fell back into his hand. Bell was beyond confused as he ran and fought as even his own, Hephaestus-made knife couldn't cut through everything, and yet the sword blades below showed no sign of being resisted by _anything_ they touched. The walls along the stairs showed the scars of glowing, molten-red rock where they had been hit. Monsters with skin thick enough to resist even his knife or a magic sword burst open on contact, horns were sheared off, limbs severed in an instant. The real reason for their continued survival however…

It was the rolling…pancake…of magic stones.

Initially it had followed the stranger every step of the way, but as they entered the final climb, the man had called out and it had raced ahead to, somehow, roll _up_ the stairs. Within moments it had raced past, barely so considering the width of the steps, Bell and climbed almost a dozen flights above. Now, it seemed to be…_spitting_…magic stones at the monsters below. While normally a magic stone was just that…a stone, these as they fell would suddenly leap forward as if shot from a bow, glowing white-hot, before impacting the monsters below just behind the front line in an impressive blast of light and heat. Incredibly, the stones dropped from the monsters would suddenly pause in free-fall before accelerating _upward_ and being consumed by the rock-pancake that was covering their rear.

Gaps in the stairs were being made as entire stretches were shattered from the wall but the seemingly endless stream of beasts large and small either climbed, leapt, or in a number of cases, were _thrown_ over the gaps. They weren't stopping.

The harpy that Bell had been effectively dueling, defending himself from the claws and trying to ignore the ear-splitting shriek it kept making, suddenly dove again; but this time it struck the wall above him before suddenly swinging down, pivoting on it's feet to try and strike him in the face. Surprised, Bell barely blocked against the suddenly innovative behavior. The force of the monster's fist was incredible, even as the beast's flesh split around the Hestia knife. The monsters' goal was accomplished however as suddenly, Bell's defense was down and another fist was swinging in, about to cut into his face with blunt force and razor-sharp nails.

Then a small purple rock hit the monster in the eye…launched from above.

Suddenly blinded and in pain in one eye, the monster missed and crushed a hole into the wall, before Bell jumped upwards and, bracing one foot against the wall to leap again, stabbed the harpy in the hanging-head.

The magic stone never even hit the stairs before it was flying upwards to join the rest the pancake-rock had claimed.

"Thanks…Rocky!" _As good a name as any I suppose…_

Seeing the adventurer below advancing upwards in his leaps and bounds, Bell kept running himself. Minutes later, he emerged onto the landing above the vertical shaft, and looking down at the monster below, stared in horror.

The stream of monsters had stopped, but not because there were no more. The entrance below had become blocked by the largest yet; The red dragon, so massively damaged from whatever the stranger had done below was staring upwards with hate filled, glowing-red eyes. Without warning, a blast of flame exploded upwards sending Bell stumbling backwards to his knees, to cover his head as the explosion from above sent shards of razor-sharp wood and burning ash throughout the chamber.

Looking up, the dragon had just blasted a crater nearly 50 medres deep _upwards_ into the core of the tree.

_Well…Rivira might be needing to find a new tree soon._ The adventurer town was nestled in the roots and, assuming the tree died from being burned from the inside out, would at some point lose much of its defense.

Looking back over the edge, Bell saw the stranger racing upwards freely. Many of the monsters immediately below had been killed in the blast from the bottom level. A deep cut had been made in the wood and stone shaft, but that was apparently no problem as the adventurer leapt off a step and began to _run along the wall_. It wasn't incredibly far, but one…two acrobatic flips later and he had landed on the intact stairs.

Seeing the man was surviving, Bell turned and ran out the exit to join his friends…only to stumble to a stop in shock. In front of him, arrayed in lines three deep, looked to be the entire population of Rivira staring at him. On the cliff ledge above, Bell could make out the one-eyed master of the town Bors next to what looked to be a number of mages. Seeing them, Bell suddenly realized the air felt as though it had a charge to it, like the static of a cold day. He was reminded of that day when Apollo Familia had attempted to ambush him and Goddess Hestia, that sense of impending doom in the calm before the storm.

The rest of his party was already climbing up the slope to the first line of defenders, so he ran to follow. The slope made climbing slower than he remembered from before, but then Bell realized the concussion of the blasts from below had actually begun collapsing loose dirt and stone on the level above. The young captain of the Hestia Familia was almost halfway to the first line closing on his companions when he heard from those nearest above a collective gasp. Looking over his shoulder, he came to a stop and like the rest, stared.

JiO-JiO

"You know you're going to die here, right?"

Seren was doing his level best to ignore what he was pretty sure was his damaged mind speaking to him. He had just been thrown bodily out of the tunnel when a monster had leapt in front of yet _another_ monster he was trying to kill, and the aether missile he had been throwing detonated less than a meter from him. Rolly, had simply been knocked back, and had rolled out to join its rambunctious offspring that it had to keep following around.

He had barely gained his feet when he had been forced to go on the offensive when one of those giant, black rhino-beasts had charged out from the tunnel.

_How that got up the main shaft I don't want to know…_

The problem was actually _not_ the fact that he was now having to dance left and right with both blades cutting as he went in order to survive. The problem wasn't even that seemingly never-ending stream of monsters that was literally _flowing_ up from below. They didn't even seem to be using the stairs! The problem wasn't even the fact that the magic charge he felt in the air was ready to go off over his and his newly met yet not-quite-known companions heads.

No, the problem was he was pretty sure he was dying. Add in what he seriously hoped was a figment of a damaged mind, _If Jax really was here…this would be one of his dickier-dick moves_, and the fact that he could clearly taste the blood on his lips and the back of his throat…and Seren was pretty sure he was dying.

At that moment, one of the badger-scorpion beasts he had first encountered, '_to think one followed me for so far,' _was doing its level best to stab him. A simple forward bend at the waist, blades raised behind his back followed by a roll over the falling severed limb sent the blades in each hand burning into the creature's skull, cue the ash.

It was easy to hear his mental fragment-friend since he could no longer hear anything at all. The rush of the blood in his head, the force a singing wind in his mind was like a symphonic backdrop to the words he was hearing. Each blast of light from his hand, each burning stone that further widened the cavern, each was nothing more than a flash of light and gust of wind.

The light was the worst part. The edges of his vision had long since gone white, everything else looked as though it was an old film-recorder with its exposure turned up. The slightest lack of color meant a streak of white in his mind. It was tunnel vision, but not of darkness, but of sheer sensation beginning to push out everything else.

His mind was breaking. His body was breaking. Seren hopped left as his left hand lanced out to the side, taking the goat-creature in the throat while his right blade danced in a pattern so fluid and random it was a thing of beauty. The rain of dust and shattered magic stones from the suicidal hornets was the only evidence to the slaughter wrought by the beautiful motions.

But he was slowing. His last med-pen had been long since used and he had gone farther than ever before in exertion. Each snap of his wrist brought the tip of a blade across a vital point of a raging monster or incinerated a tiny interceptor, but ligaments and tendons long since over stretched further tore with each motion, muscles long since saturated with toxins, organs over-tasked attempting to clean the body were shutting down.

The force could provide the will to ignore, endure, and often overcome; but it was no miracle.

It was not the scream of fury that alerted him to the change, or even the sudden pulse through the force, but the blast of fire that erupted from the tunnel leading down. Every monster in the way was incinerated and a barely formed flash of his shield kept him from being the same; the loops and twists of aether that formed the hexagonal panel flickered in his mind, the fire's light was lightning against his already strained mind as his weakened shield prepared to shatter.

The flow of monsters was no more, the reason for it now apparent: The red dragon that had been pursuing him for so long had been literally climbing with 3 limbs and a wing in the vertical shaft, pushing every monster before it along, or crushing them entirely as it forced its way up and out to its prey.

Seren glanced behind; the group carrying those huge packs had finally escaped the area he could tell was about to be shattered by the magic being held back by the mages up the hill. Looking to where the source of the magic was gathered, he could see the one-eyed man that looked down upon the exit that was obviously the commander. Glancing back at the dragon trying to push its way up through the 90-degree turn of the shaft, Seren took a step towards escape-

His left leg collapsed. Seren fell to his knees, not exactly surprised as he looked down at the offending limb and the several darts one of those big bush-plants had hurled at him before he had blown them apart. Some had hit, and apparently, they weren't as benign as he had thought.

_Well…so much for that idea._ Simply put, he could tell there was no more time. It was obvious the mages were waiting to bring down the entire tunnel system to the bottom floor to seal off this level, and if the dragon, even as wounded as it was, escaped here and now, the death toll would be immense.

"Well…I guess you were right for once brother."

JiO-JiO

Bors stared at the adventurer below that had suddenly fallen to his knees and cursed the man's bad luck. "We can't wait any longer…we can't…"

Looking down at the man below, his heart was in a clench. Bors was not known for being either a nice or a good man, but he _was_ fair. He was a level 3 adventurer that was only there because at various points in _his_ career, other adventurers had gone out of their way for him. While you usually left each other to their own devices, there was a comradery between the people that risked their lives for the stones and dropped goods that made the world turn. Giving the command to fire spells that he knew would kill a fellow adventurer that had done him no harm…did not sit well.

Eyes locked on the obviously wounded man, Bors' eyes widened. Whoever he was, he was looking straight at him, and even from here he could see the peaceful smile on his face. With a flourish, the man raised one of those strange swords in salute before pivoting on his obviously poisoned knee to face the cave. Light began to dance around one of his hands.

"…Now."

JiO-JiO

Bell stared. He had thought the adventurer who had _yet_ to actually speak to any of them would have been able to make it up the hill, but something was obviously wrong; as he watched the man had painfully turned to face back at the dragon that desperately, steadily, and successfully was digging its way out of the tunnel, widening it piece by piece.

As he watched, the adventurer raised his hand, and steady flashes of that white-blue magic began to flash back into the tunnel, hammering into the dragon bit by bit. From what little Bell could see, they weren't doing much other than further enraging the already furious beast, but each hit forced the Valgang to pause and scream in fury.

That rolling collection of magic stones also began, one after the other, launching stones into the air that after a short toss, seemed to simply flash and blast into the dragon. These WERE causing damage, but not enough, certainly not _fast_ enough.

The mages' incantations were complete, and the sense that all adventurers had, especially those third tier and up, that gave awareness to the presence of active magic was screaming at Bell. These spells were triggering, and knowing the power of the defenders of Rivira, the base of the great tree was about to be no more.

This man had saved them. He had saved Lilly, without question, without hesitation, and literally without a single word he had stepped in and fought for people he didn't know. Hestia Familia would not only be completing a major quest that they would be known for, but would return with supplies to sell that would help support their familia as they had yet to do before. And all because a dirt covered, blood-soaked, wound-bearing man had repeatedly stood in the face of danger that sent every member of his party, himself included, running in absolute terror.

He had not run. He hadn't turned his back except to create more space and time for these strangers to run further ahead; He had never even had anything but a smile on his face as he did it.

With a start, Bell realized something that he had been knowing but never thinking ever since he first saw this man: This was a Hero, capital _H_. The very thing he sought so hard to _be_, was kneeling right here before him, throwing magic away with no other purpose than to buy this entire collection of adventurers time and safety. He knew it, the crowd staring down at this man that had just killed more than a hundred of the fiercest monsters the guild could describe without moving a step knew it.

And he wasn't going to let him die. Bell Cranell sprinted out from the line of adventurers watching and raced to the center target of over half-a-dozen high-powered spells that had just been triggered.

JiO-JiO

Bors stood, mouth agape, as the Little Rookie ran back to what was about to be a crater. The lone adventurer who still knelt just beyond the threshold of the level exit, that blue magic continuing to erupt from his hand, began to slightly keel to the side.

Bell Cranell was trying to be a hero for a Hero.

JiO-JiO

Lilly sat upright when she heard the adventurers in front of her take in an almost collective breath. She had been sitting with her back against her pack waiting for Bell to join the rest of the party, but he had yet to show. Worry grabbed her heart in its fist and squeezed as not only she, but Welf and Mikoto raced to the edge of the line to look. What she saw froze her blood solid.

"_BELL NOOOOOO!"_

JiO-JiO

Despite the wind rushing in his ears as the kneeling adventure, who had finally begun to fall, grew closer in his vision; his feet were moving as fast as his level three will could move them and he could barely see as the air battered at his eyes.

Despite all this, he still heard the girl he had been willing to save with nothing but a fireball and a knife scream out his name.

_'Sorry Lilly, but I'm going to save the man that saved you.'_

Even before Bell had begun to run, spell circles had begun forming both overhead and on the ground in front of the exit; Hundreds of small purple circles from above began twisting into existence as a form of meteor magic initiated. A blue inward twisting and spiraling spell circle on the ground grew in size and complexity as lighting began to gather at its edges. Tens of thousands of tiny furious-red circles linked together in dancing lines across the floor: An Eruption spell was about to discharge. There were others, but Bell did not see them as he finally neared his goal; He didn't even slow, keeping his momentum as he reached out to grasp at the falling body still gripping that strange weapon in his hand. There was no time to be gentle, to slow and catch his fall, to lift him up and run. Bell felt bones crack and shatter under his chest as he hit…and jumped.

JiO-JiO

The exit from level 18 safe-zone to the upper level of the Large Tree Labyrinth was destroyed so thoroughly, traffic would not resume below for more than a week. Hundreds of lightning strikes erupted from the edges of the blue spell circle, converging in the center where the nearby base of the great tree simply vanished. The ground was pummeled when just as many flaming rocks erupted from portals that came from who-knows-where, the tree further ravaged as blasts wore away at it and the surrounding ground. Other magics chained in; Massive vines erupted from the ground to pummel the surface, chunks of ice the size of houses pounded the ground; The most effective by far however, were the volcanos. Every little circle of a chain so elaborate it looked like a drawing erupted with a volcanic blast that simply lifted the ground…and dropped it. As this happened, an entire quarter of the great tree above simply _sheared _away and fell, pummeling the already ravaged surface. This was the final straw, just a little abuse too great: The entire vertical stair-shaft down below collapsed, as did the tunnel below leading to the 19th level, as did entire portions of the 19th and 20th floors as the already weakened structures broke apart. Everything below was destroyed.

Nothing was ever found of the dragon, though it was, rightfully, assumed that in the collapse of the tunnels it was crushed and killed, its massive magic stone ground to powder.

JiO-JiO

No one moved. The sheer violence, similar to that wrought by the mages only weeks ago in defense of the black goliath, was this time witnessed up close by an audience. No one was willing to even twitch as the final flashes of light from above and below subsided, as the sound of collapsing tunnels and falling rock and debris hit the surface came to an end.

And then…

"_Belll!" _A prum girl sprinted, or tried to, down the now shattered incline into the dust cloud, Welf and Mikoto close behind.

"Lilly! Slow down, STOP! Agghgh you crazy _girl!_" Both were trying to catch up to their supporter friend without hurting themselves as they made their way over and down the wrecked landscape.

Lilly ran through ground zero where the spells had been focused and to the other side of what now was a very obvious crater. Not seeing her goal, she began climbing over the boulders to the top near the edge of the cliff above the lake. Ignoring the big disc of what were now obviously magical stones trying to roll free from the debris, she was growing increasingly desperate until as she leapt from one boulder to another, she heard it:

"uunnghh…"

"_BEEEELLLLLL!" _Lilly's scream could be heard across nearly the entirety of level 18.

In truth, the Little Rookie was not greatly hurt. Perhaps luck or fate, one of the first blasts of…something…had sent a boulder straight into the ground between him and the limp body of the adventurer in his arms and the focus of the magical strikes. As such, he had been able to shelter the two of them behind the rock as the rain of devastation continued. It was the sound of what seemed to be the end of the world more than anything that sent him into a stunned stupor, from which Lilly pulled him as she tackled him.

By the time Welf and Mikoto had arrived, Lilly had begun slapping Bell as hard she could repeatedly. His cries for her to stop went completely unheeded as she screamed and yelled at him through tears as she kept pummeling him with her hands.

"Lilly, stop!" Welf finally had to grab her from behind and pull her off and away from Bell, who had in fact had still been trying to protect the man beneath him from the collateral of the rage of the girl above. "We need to get this guy help, get a hold of yourself!" Welf gave Lilly a jaw rattling shake that suddenly seemed to snap sense back into her, who finally saw the man Bell had been willing to die for.

"Is he…Mind Down?" Lilly asked as she went to kneel behind the head of the man that had saved her life, inquiring about the mental breaking point that magical users could hit after too much magic use.

Just then, two of the mages that had been watching from the line, but unable to actually apply combat magic, arrived. One was an elf, one of his ears crooked as if broken repeatedly, who immediately went to the limp man's side and placed his ear to the place just below the throat and above the chest.

"…he's dying. Anara…elixirs…now." The group gasped as the second mage went to her knees by her companion's side and began to open her satchel "How many?"

"All of them."

"?"

"All of them, now."

Everyone watched in silence as the mages began pouring several million valis worth of medicine onto the wounds and down the throat of a stranger.

JiO-JiO

Seren didn't know what had happened. All but the last of his vision had been filled inwards from the burning whiteness, and all he felt was the floating sensation of the force. Far away he could see people looking at him, talking, wondering. Whoever they were…he hoped they were well. There was a girl, she almost seemed upside down, looking down at him with wide, hazelnut eyes. There was…something in that gaze but he didn't know what it was. Behind the girl stood a young woman with purple skin and blue eyes, a soft smile on her lips, her face framed by thin lekku that had finally begun to pass her shoulders.

Staring at her as though he should know her, he just couldn't remember her name. As if hearing his thoughts, her shrinking face simply shook her head and mouthed some words.

It didn't matter.

Perhaps Jax and the others _had_ been right.

'Death is Glory'…he hated those words…

There was white…and then the dark.


	4. The Highest Depths

All DanMachi and Starwars content is owned either by NA Yen Press or Walt Disney Studios respectively.

Chapter 4: The Highest Depths

"Eina! Einaaaa!" Eina Tulle looked up from the papers she was filling out, the forms were listings of the interviews that had been taken from adventurers throughout the last day as they reported on the strange monster behavior below. Eina, being one of the main low-level instructors and collectors of dungeon lore working at the guild, she seemed to keep winding up filling out these tedious reports. The same had happened after the monsterphillia…incident…as well.

"Eiiinnnaaa!" But as usual, something, or rather _someone_, kept getting in the way. Misha Flott, her overly rambunctious and easily distracted co-worker was bouncing over her way. Literally bouncing too, as her shoulder-length pink hair as well as her…assets…were flopping about as she ran over.

"Misha! You have _customers!_ You can't just _leave_ them like that!" Over Misha's still slightly hopping head were a pair of dwarves, laden with truly massive packs that seemed quite larger than usual; Amused grins on their faces as they look on at the usual antics of their human guild adviser. Expedition-eers perhaps…?

Misha didn't reply immediately as she grabbed Eina's hand and started to hop/pull her back the way she came. "Yes, I know but they have _news!"_

Eina opened her mouth to reply about how all news would be posted eventually, but then paused as she realized what Mish' might be talking about. '_Did they see Bell?'_

"Lady Tulle", "Ma'am." The Dwarves were a perfect contrast in appearance. Both had Yellow hair, one on his head and the other on his chin, as well as red hair…the first on his chin and the second on his head.

"Ms. _Flott_ here says you have some news…?" Eina tried to _not_ look at her coworker who was enthusiastically nodding while now slightly bouncing on her feet…fast enough to make her somewhat blurry to the casual eye.

"Aye! The little' pinky here thought ya's might like to know about one Bell Cranell." At the mention of her protégé, Eina was immediately all ears as her half-sized elf ears seemed to snap towards the adventurer in front of her. "The boy and his party helped us out a big one down 'blow. As I was telling the little pink smudge here-"

Eina's hand slammed down on Misha's now absolutely vibrating head hard enough to finally still the hyper-active young lady. …in response Misha's thumbs began twiddling faster than the eye could possibly follow.

"-eh…but as I was saying he and his bunch helped us hit down to the 20th floor. As you ladies know, things were gettin' a bit out of hand and either no one else was going…or they ran away." At this both dwarves' eyes narrowed and momentarily shot off to the side, intentionally _not _looking at a trio of Ogma Familia adventurers who were…looking rather worse for wear.

"Anyhow, they took our quest to take us down below to get a bunch o' these dumb moshfu seeds. Things were goin' purty well 'till…well we got hit by a horde."

Eina's eyes widened at that last word, a "horde" was a rather vague term thrown around, but its use typically referred to situations where unusual numbers of monsters spawned even beyond what constituted a 'monster party'. The stories using the word typically also ended in someone or _someones_ dying. Her fingernails were beginning to make indentations on the counter, and on Misha's head where her hand was still planted.

Misha whimpered slightly. "What…next?" Eina was far too professional to allow her voice to quaver. She did _not _hear any such sound in her voice. Every guild worker behind the counter however, busy or not, swiveled eyes and ears in her direction.

"Well, let me see…we got chased…from the _20__th__ floor mind you_…by some thunder snakes-" a scale hit the floor somewhere behind Eina, "I know I saw some Venom Scorpions, like the ones Ganesha had brought up –" off to the side one of the guild accountants twitched and sent a pile of magic stones tumbling…which no one seemed to notice.

"ahhh…..Black Rhinos, Foimore, Flame Rocks, a Skull Sheep…yea that one surprised me too…_lots _of Spartoi…Iguazu _oh yea LOTS_ of Iguazu…some Moss Huge…and um…" The dwarf squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to dredge up the rest of the list in his head. By this point everyone behind, in front of, around and _anywhere near _the counter had frozen in place.

"Oh! …and a Red Dragon." Jorgan dropped the last bomb shell that sent a wave of gulps, gasps, and hisses through the crowd. Many of the adventurers had never had the chance to encounter half the monsters listed, and no one was interested in the idea of the final item on the list the dwarf had so casually thrown out. Misha had begun to slowly shrink, her already short 150 celch-high frame getting less celchier by the second; her eyes had pivoted to look at the blank, ashen look on her friend's face.

"Aggghh! But don't worry 'bout that kid!" Jorgan slammed his fist down on the counter so hard and loud that everyone in the vicinity jumped, "He and some strange adventurer we ran into bein' chased by all that crud covered our behinds as we dwarf-tailed it _outta_ there! The lil' rookie, he was fine and got out in time, but that poor sod was holdin' off that horde with some special swords or something; Bors and others were settin' up the magic peeps up the hill. The 'Rook though 'parently wasn't too keen on that guy bitin' the dust, so he got a mite toasty from some spells when he ran through…um…" the dwarf silently counted on his hand for a moment, eyeballs all around ready to fall out of their sockets, "yea 7….no… 8 level three spell sets."

Cue more gasps all around. Misha was still shrinking as Eina's hand continued to drive her downward.

"No worries though, that kid made it just _fine_. Not too sure if that adventurer who saved our butts is gonna make it though…" with that the jovial, and obviously entertained expression on the dwarf's face faded; It was replaced by a solemn and serious look of focus that anyone who was or had been around adventurers could recognize.

"That guy saved our asses, and Rivira to boot probably too. If he makes it, and I see him again… I don't care how well he can hold his beer; rounds are on me 'till he drops." With one of the most solemn oaths that an adventurer could make regarding another, Jorgan the Dwarf straightened and leaned over the counter to look down at his now almost kneeling advisor who was still attached to Eina's hand.

"That'll be all Miss Misha! You take care o' yourself, and if you see Cranell let 'em know that Goibniu Familia is grateful!" With that, the two dwarves turned and walked out through the crowd that had gathered to listen to the report that had just been given. Eina, rolling the information through her head for a moment, suddenly realized she was gripping something beside her and, looking down, realized she had driven Misha almost to her knees by her head; The girl's large pink eyes were watering as they stared up at her in desperation, "Can I…get up now…_please?_"

JiO-JiO

Bell was pushing the food on his plate around in circles; Supposedly the meat that was served down here came from wild animals brought down from above, but rumor was always rampant that Bors would secretly slip monster meats into the stews to see how they affected the flavor. Over the years, there had been more than a few fights as customers suddenly grew suspicious over what was going down their gullet. At the moment however, Bell Cranell was much less interested in the taste of the food than he was the thoughts on his mind.

Next to him sat Mikoto, sitting calmly with her katana out as she slowly ran a whetstone down the blade. The steady _schik-shick-shick_ noise it made was almost a meditation guide to her as she filed out the ever-so-slight nicks formed on the blade from their run to, and even faster run _from_, the 20th floor.

"Jorgan should be back by now," Bell mentioned their new dwarven acquaintance that had left after the dragon had been killed. "I gave him a note to take to Goddess Hestia letting her know about what's going on."

Welf paused in what he was working on to glance up at Bell in surprise and suspicion. The last time he, and they, had been in danger their Goddess, or simply _his_ Goddess then, had come racing down into the dungeon only to trigger a calamity in the form of an over-powered Black Goliath…an irregular. The last thing Welf had expected of his friend was to give her any reason to worry about her first familia member. From the look on Mikoto's almost twitching ear, she was thinking something similar.

"What-," Welf had to clear his throat for a moment, "what exactly did you _say_ to her that's not going to have her go…crazy?"

"Hrrmmmph," Bell had been trying to get his appetite going again and was in mid swallow, "Only that we'd been on a quest, someone helped us out and became badly injured and we were waiting to see if he survived or not before returning home."

Welf was actually impressed; This _almost_ counted as lying from omission to their Goddess. Had he said those words just then in her presence, she would have certainly known of the deceit concealed behind them. As is, Welf suspected they would _all_ be hearing how much a deity should be told about their _situations_ in the future.

"As is, we'll wait and see what happens for now," Bell continued, "That man helped us out and I'd like to at _least_ know his name before we move on. I say we give him a day to wake up. Angalos said that if he wasn't at least awake in 24 hours or so, then he wouldn't be waking up at all. As is, he's another 12 hours before we need to consider him…um…lost."

Bell was still a young man, not even in his upper teens, but the dungeon did not allow adventurers to act very young for long. Either you grew up, or you died. Anywhere other than Orario, his view would have been incredibly pessimistic and heartless. Here in the Dungeon, it was a way of life. Eina had told him before that adventurers died when they went on adventures, and they were _called_ adventurers for a reason.

Bell and the others would mourn the unknown man who had come up from below, but they would move on and do their best to live.

Welf and Mikoto both nodded and resumed their projects. Welf had been lightly tapping two pieces of metal together, listening to the almost inaudible _clink…clink_ sound they made. Bell finally noticed the puzzled look on his red-haired friend's face as he seemed to be trying to find something in the sound but wasn't getting it.

"…something wrong?", Bell inquired as he looked at what he realized was the coat-shaped net of metal plates linked together that the adventurer from below had been wearing. Each piece of metal was a hexagonal-plate perhaps four celch across, the corners linking to the neighbor by thin, but apparently very strong wires.

"Nah…not really. It's just that this metal…is strange." At this, Bell's red eyes focused in on the pieces of metal Welf was gently tapping together on the table. Mikoto also looked up from her sword at the quiet comment, whetstone frozen over the blade.

"I mean, it's metal for sure! But…it just doesn't feel like anything I've messed with before. Bell, can I see your Hestia Knife?" One of Bell's dark eyebrows quirked up at the request, but he quickly acquiesced, pulling the straight blade free from the scabbard behind his waist.

Welf grabbed one of the moshfu seeds that they had managed to grab from below. The seed was an oblong, purple, _rock_ almost. Useful to smiths, it was no surprise the Goibniu Familia had been after them. "Besides the oil and tempering these things help with, they're great for something else." Welf took a short dagger from his own waist, and with the back edge of the blade, gave the seed a sharp _whack_.

A soft pinging noise seemed to echo out from the blade for several moments before fading away. "Ok, so this is tempered steel, fairly hard, though it's got some space to tighten up a bit more."

"You can hear all that from that ring?" Mikoto was sharply focused in on this now.

"Yea, this is stuff High Smiths _have _to know if they're going to be worthy of the name. So now, the Hestia blade. I already know it's made of some serious metal and skill, so this should be different."

Saying that, Welf took the black knife from Bell's hand and again, gave the seed a sharp hit with the back edge. Instead of a pinging sound this time, the blade made a sharp, low-pitched warbling-thud before stopping.

"There's nothing I can imagine doing to this thing. The sound barely lasts, and that low pitch means there's some magic at work in the blade, like the energy of the hit is being pulled away somewhere." Welf handed the blade back to Bell with one hand while his other reached for the piece of armor he had been hitting a moment before.

"But this…listen." A sharp whack…again…and again. Bell and Mikoto quickly glanced at each other before looking back at Welf.

"I don't…really hear anything…" Bell had heard maybe a gentle scrape on the seed, but nothing metallic like before.

"I know! This _feels _like metal, it _looks _like metal…but damn if it isn't almost as light as paper and certainly doesn't _sound _like any metal I've ever heard of. It's beyond hard, I couldn't even scratch it with my knife and I'm pretty sure the Hestia Knife wouldn't do much better. I don't have a _clue_ what this stuff is. _But…" _Welf paused for a moment while he rearranged the pile of scorched leather and armor plates in his lap before lifting it up to show them something; Bell and Mikoto both leaned forward in confusion.

"Something _cut _and _melted _straight through these plates right here. I'd say I can't imagine what in hell could do something…but I realized a couple minutes ago that I'm pretty sure we've seen something that could."

His two familia members didn't even have to ask him to continue as he reached down by his side to the bag at his feet and pulled out…a black and silver rod, as long Welf's forearm from tip to tip.

His friend's eyes widened: the stranger's weapons. Made of silver and some black mesh that they were sure was for gripping, the object had some flowing metal designs that started from the center before arcing out towards the ends. A pair of what looked like the buttons used to activate magic-stone powered items were inset into the handle just beyond the designs on each end. At said ends was a metal covering that seemed to split as it flowed along two opposite sides, a hollow space in between. Not a single person sitting at the table had ever seen such an object, especially one that they knew to be such a powerful weapon.

"It took me a bit, but I finally figured out how to put it back together," Welf continued, as he gripped it with two hands and, making what looked like a twitching motion with his fists, suddenly rotated the two halves in opposite directions and transformed what had been a single object into two. When separated, Mikoto and Bell could see an angled pommel on one end, a recess on the other for it to fit into.

"You have to give it a couple, real sharp jerks and _bam_, you have two swords instead of that…staff…thingy. I'm pretty sure it's so he doesn't accidentally drop half his weapon in the middle of a fight or something like that. It goes back the same way." Welf slid the two pieces back together, and with a similar but opposite double-jerk of his wrists, the weapon became whole again as he held it in one hand.

"Don't ask me anything about this, I don't have a clue. I'm guessing these little silver pieces here cause those blades to pop out somehow, but I'm not turning this thing on, definitely not in here." Both his friends were emphatically nodding at this, eyes as wide as a rabbit on soma wine, especially in Bell's case.

"It's heavy too, heavier than you would think to look at it, here." He handed it to Bell who did indeed suddenly have to grasp it harder as the weight settled into his hand. _Not_ what he would have expected. Moving it around for a moment, he passed it on to Mikoto who also found herself underestimating its heft.

"I'm pretty sure if I took this thing to Lady Hephaestus, she'd have no more idea than me. She's a smith…a goddess smith at that…but this is…something different. I'd more trust one of the artificers on the east side of town to figure it out than any smith honestly."

The Artificers of Orario were known throughout the world for the devices they created that could do tasks from the mundane to the incredible, all powered by magic stones recovered from the dungeon. The elevator in the center of the Tower of Babel for existence was one such device.

"Welf…you're not going to _take_ that are you…?" Bell was looking at his friend in concern, who looked up sharply from the weapon Mikoto had handed back.

"Not if he lives, that doesn't seem to be the kind of person I want chasing after me because I took one of his toys. No, I'll hold on to all his stuff for now since I don't trust leaving it in his room with all those adventurers going in and out. He had a bunch of pouches and what I think are tools on his belt, but I can't make heads or tails of any of it, so I thought I'd just keep it close for now." Bell nodded in sudden understanding; The adventurers of Rivira were…rough…and petty theft even from a man that had impressed them who was on his deathbed was…not beneath some.

Bors, the leader of Rivira, had been trying to find out who the strange adventurer was that had stalled the Valgang Dragon at the entrance from level 19. An act of courage and sacrifice that had rattled everyone watching, to say that the town was on edge to find out _who_ he was would be a massive understatement.

"Bah! Not a clue kid!" Almost as if summoned, said level 3 adventurer crashed down in on the bench next to Welf, looking at Mikoto across from him with a grin. Mikoto simply huffed and went back to sharpening her sword, while holding the point straight at the one-eyed adventurer.

"HA! I love spirit, but as I was saying, no one knows him. I've asked people from 12 different familias down here, no one knows him! I was wanting to…check…his stats, but Korgan refused to pick a status of a person who wasn't dead. This wasn't a murder after all. Granted," Bors paused as he took a drink of his locally brewed ale," If your prum girl can't nurse him back to life…I might find out anyway!"

"Aahhh…eh?" Bells eyes went wide at the man's words, but the open-mouthed, shocked look on his face softened when Welf elbowed the man in the side.

"She's not _nursing_ anyone, though she's definitely worried." Welf looked over at his white-haired friend almost sadly, "That guy saved her life, pretty dramatically too. I'm thinking she's thinking back to when another adventurer we know did something like that. Considering that even _five_ elixirs _barely_ kept him alive…I think she just wants to be there if…you know."

"Oh…yea." With that, no one had much else to say as Bell glanced up at the window in which he knew a man was hovering on the edge of life and death while a prum girl sat and watched.

JiO-JiO

In a room overlooking the main street of Rivira, Lilly was sitting in a chair with her knees pulled to her chest. Her usual red/white cloak was with the group's gear, and her freshly sewn shirt was being further held together by her body as she pulled her legs tighter and gently rocked back and forth in the human-sized chair. She could only look at the man wrapped in bandages laying in the bed across the room and think.

She _hated_ adventurers. Mr. Bell and Mr. Welf had shown her that not _all_ adventurers were bad, and Ms. Mikoto despite almost getting her killed once before had also really come through for them all. But, the bad taste in her mouth whenever she was around those she didn't know still lingered.

'_Who ARE you?' _The question bouncing around her mind received no answer as the wounded man before her continued to twitch and jerk in the sleep that no one had been able to rouse him from. Angalos, the elven mage that had saved his life earlier, had said that if he stopped sweating and had yet to waken, to go start digging a hole.

'_Elixirs do their work not only because of the magic contained in the potion, but also by using the magic in the body. As it does its work, the cycle of consuming magic to heal creates heat. As well as that, the elixir leaves chemicals behind the body needs to purge. If he doesn't heal enough to wake up, and he stops sweating, then he either ran out of magic, or his body gave up trying to rid itself of the elixirs. In either case, I am afraid he won't live long.'_

The elf with the bent ear had given some suggestions; pour water down his throat, keep him cool, trying to clean the filth of the dungeon as much as possible. Lilly had watched as one of Bors'…girls…had squeezed water from a cloth into his mouth. He hadn't swallowed, but he hadn't died either.

For now, alone with the stranger and the disc of magic-stones in the other corner that at the moment, towered over her, Lilly could only stare at the man in the bed and think.

'_Please don't die…I have to know why…_'

JiO-JiO

The lightning flashed as he ran, the thunder shaking the world. As he crested the boulder at the top of the plateau, his nightmare was lit from above by yet another burst of fury. A girl lay dying before her tent, limbs weakly waving as a man continued to saw at her neck with a knife; Blood was spraying everywhere as the life quickly drained from her body through the throat cut already cut back to her spine. The wind covered the sound of blade sawing at flesh as nearby, another already severed head looked up at Seren as he stood over the scene, the once blonde girl's jaw moving, trying to shape words that would never come from the throat it no longer possessed.

The lightning flashed as he ran. Just as he cleared the rise, leaping for all he was worth, the scene below was lit from the flash up above. The thunder did not come in time to cover the sound of a scream as the man standing over his victim began to cut. Blood flew, the eyes in the nearby severed head weakly spinning, jaw trying to speak.

The lightning flashed as he struck down again with his sword, blood flying through the air as he rent the monster in him human form's flesh. In the afterimage of the flash of light, he could see two blonde women, scantily clad in t-shirts and underwear, running barefoot down the mountain with their glowing phones in their hands. In blind fury Seren raised his longsword again to the sky and _called_; Lightning flashed to the ground once, twice, three times. The bodies of the man's compatriots exploded and burned as he continued to scream and cut.

Above him, the sun was shining; It had been a beautiful day mere hours before, yet any beauty had long since vanished from the sky over this fishing village as the wail and cry of dying men, women, and children echoed across the sand and waves. The _Saranadeen_ horsemen had finally withdrawn from the field, leaving the poor peasant and peon conscripts and townsmen to cover their retreat; They were to die in their place. Here, alongside this road to a town that would never grow to become a city, Seren looked down at a weeping red-headed boy trying desperately to hold within his rent stomach his torn and oozing guts. He never looked away from the youth begging for help as he struck, silencing the cries.

The banners around him were flapping in the hot wind on this forsaken desert hill overlooking the keep. From below, the study _thud_ as the trebuchets and mangonels released their missiles were counterpoints to the furious screaming and clamoring of the army scaling the three walls. To his side, the hollow-eyed King nodded once. Seren simply raised his hand to the sky, waited, and _called_. Savage blasts of blue fire shattered the hearing of men and women across the battlefield as a wall previously so indominable was suddenly rent in two, massive stone blocks crushing all below as the outer defense collapsed to the ground. Without looking back or speaking a word, he drew his blade and stepped forward to join the crush of men suddenly racing through the fresh gap. The sand was stained red.

The city burned. From within the walls that had only yesterday seemed impervious to assault, smoke filled the sky as the sound of screams and slaughter rose up from the streets. The inner gatehouse at the top of the summit had never been lowered, and as Seren ran into the inner courtyard, he found them. A crown had been cut in two where it lay in a puddle of red and grey. Beyond, surrounded by a pile of grey-clad bodies lay a man and woman; a pile of men who had devoted their lives and deaths to their liege had died where they stood as they watched their King and Queen slaughtered beyond their aid. Softly whimpering, the naked teenage girl hung from the far stone wall, the blade-staff embedded in both breast and stone. Her eyes that had locked on him as he entered the courtyard dimmed as her final word was never spoken; a torrent of blood pouring from her finally stilled mouth.

A naked child ran through the waters of the cave, leaping and laughing from stone to stone hidden just below the surface. The little girl's mother looked up at him with pity from the steaming water as he fell to his face once again, a fresh wave of blood washing away with the current. With a scream of fury, he lashed out once again as he struck at the impossible face above. He never felt or saw the blow that lifted him from his feet for the unknownth time. The woman and her companions watching the fight continued to slowly wash their shoulders and breasts under the falls as, yet again, he fought, fell, and bled.

The massive, man-eating flower had only just burnt to ash when he heard the voice behind him. From some form of hovering vehicle he had never heard approach, a brown-eyed woman stepped to the ground. Almost bashfully, he looked around the clearing as the woman silently stepped forward. The dead and dying plants had attacked almost as soon as he exited the Gate, and in the process of defending himself he had shattered everything in sight. Before he could open his mouth to speak a greeting, or an explanation, to this stranger…she smiled. With a tilt of her head toward the vehicle she had just emerged from, she simply motioned: C_ome._

The station had begun to fall; At some point the retros had activated and the battleground between the fledging, and dying, resistance and the white-armored troops had begun to succumb to the gravity well below. The tibana-station in low orbit of Taloraan had begun its final descent. Seren's gold-yellow blades struck forward and back repeatedly as the armored, black-clad figure in the cape continued to press him in the ongoing dual. His every blast of aether being blocked by the flowing red lightsaber, Seren had finally focused on keeping his own weapon on the move while the aether shield he had formed over the nearby corvette continued to shimmer under turbolaser-fire, each impact sending fire through his mind. Even as the engines of the old, blocky ship finally ignited, Seren was flung from his feet towards the edge of the collapsing platform. With a bloody grin at his masked opponent, he swept his blade one last time through the air; The final cable stabilizing the landing pad was severed with an explosive _pop;_ Seren and his deep-breathing opponent both found themselves hurtled through space towards the gas giant below.

Somehow, they had found him. He had barely landed, crashed if you will, the _Rising Fire_ just over the far ridge. The new TIE starfighters that had been recently fielded were crisscrossing the plateau, burning everything to ash in explosive green-blasts. Seren sprinted across the increasingly scorched landscape towards the Gate, dodging the plants and animals fleeing the area; paws and roots were tearing up the ground as the equally mobile flora and fauna fled. As usual, any energy emitted in or around a Gate simply _vanished_ to somewhere else, as green blaster-cannon bolts raced past him only to vanish into a void. In his mind's eye he could see the swirling clouds of emerald fury drifting within the rings surrounding the Gate, the symbols only he could see beginning to align as they matched his will: _anywhere else_. The song in his mind as the Gate triggered was a pure note that echoed within him to his very core. With one final leap, Seren threw himself over the rings and into the Gate, his final look at the once colorful plain on Felucia filled with green as the orbital bombardment raced down from above.

Seren open his eyes.

Naya stared down at him, her usual playful smile lifting the corners of her mouth. The ever-present goggles on her head wrapped around both lekku, one of the lenses still not quite as aligned as it was supposed to be. Her purple skin and light blue eyes reflected the light from outside the window as for a moment, they were both silent while staring at each other.

Her brown hair brushed across her shoulders as she bent over him while gently wiping the sweat from his brow. Her suddenly hazelnut eyes were filled with worry as he struggled to speak to her one last time, to say tell her how sorry he was. As the purple faded to pale white, the last he heard before closing his eyes again was her laughter. '_As long as we laugh Ser', things will be ok'_

Jio-Jio

Lilly looked down at the man who had just scared her half to death. The wet rag was limp in her hand as she stood frozen in place after he had released her, forgotten in her astonishment. Bors' girl had yet to return so she had gently started wiping the sweat away from his face as he mumbled and twisted in his sleep. As she had made a final brush across his forehead, he seemed to awaken with a start and grabbed her wrist in a grip that was Lilly certain was bending bone. His deep blue eyes seemed to stare through her, his gaze making her feel utterly naked as though he was seeing everything about her soul.

As Lilly stood there in his grip, the look of panic and terror that had been on his face slowly faded away until finally, with a grin that reminded her of that moment that he had stood over her casually killing monsters with a sword , he released her to fall back into the dity pillow…dead asleep.

She stood there in shock for a moment, waiting to see if his eyes would open again, but he never moved. Slowly, she backed away until she reached the door behind her and, upon reaching the threshold, turned to race down the stairs.

He was going to live, and she needed to find the others.

The irony, however, was that if Lilly had waited even a moment longer before turning to run out of the room, she would have seen his blue eyes slowly open again.

JiO-JiO

This time, Seren was convinced he knew where he was. Or rather, where he was _not_. There were no sounds of battle, screams in the air, or the rush of wind passing as he fell from the upper atmosphere. The metallic scent of blood of the battlefield or slaughter ground was absent. A very slight breeze made a small bell hanging from a ribbon next to the window tinkle, and the sound of the activity of a city-street could be heard from outside.

'_I think…I'm alive…'_

Seren gently pulled himself up from the bed in which he was laying. As he went to stand however, the energy he thought he had decided to remind him that no, he _didn't _have any of said energy and he collapsed to the floor in a heap. Rolly, in the corner, slowly rolled up to where he lay groaning, pulling splinters from where his knee had a rough patch on the floor.

"At least you care big guy…" After stating the not-so-obvious, Seren grasped the side of his construct where a slightly larger stone protruded and managed to leverage himself first to his knees, and then, leaning liberally on Rolly, to his feet.

Looking around the rather plain room, Seren took stock of his situation. He was currently dressed in only his battle-pants and jump-boots. He didn't bother looking for a shirt as he had been forced to abandon it after it had done its job on the refinery, absorbing energy blasts that _should_ have killed him. The remains of his armor didn't seem to be in the room with him, and as the bed he had been lying on was little more than a box frame on the floor piled high with blankets, he didn't need to look under anything.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the only door out, and let go of Rolly.

He didn't fall over this time.

He definitely wobbled a bit however, and with each step he swayed a bit more but Seren managed to make it to the door without proving this place had gravity yet again. Outside the door was a hall lined with several other closed doors, what looked to be stones from the monsters glowing in insets in the wall. A flight of stairs practically beckoned as he suddenly felt the waft of a breezing pass his face, the scent of food hitting him like a brick.

Step-by-step, he managed to hobble his way down the stairs, Rolly slowly and carefully warping to fit the stair-steps as it descended behind him.

What little conversation came to a halt when he finally took the final step at the bottom of the stairs, passing through a door into what was obviously the dining area of a pub or bar. Two of the tables were occupied; Several men and women with large ears and in one case a massive beard were openly staring at him. Not really knowing what to do, Seren gingerly made his way to the bar, where a one-eyed man with an eyepatch over his scars looked at him woodenly.

Almost collapsing to one of the bar stools, he looked up at the still face of the man paused mid-wipe of a rather dirty cup.

"…Hi…I don't suppose I could…food-nap some of that…food…you have back there?"

JiO-JiO

Bors didn't have a damn clue what this man had just said.

His remaining eye slightly twitched as he shifted his gaze from the bruised and battered half-dressed stranger in front of him to the other occupants, hoping that one of them knew what the stranger had just said. He got nothing but shrugs in return.

The leader of Rivira looked around desperately for help but no one else was there. He had become the defacto boss of the adventurer-town down-under because he was confident, aggressive, and second tier, not because he was stunningly intelligent. He didn't have a clue what to do with this man.

JiO-JiO

Seren grimaced as the bartender in front of him looked around desperately.

_'Third time in a row I jump to a place where they speak something new. From Caldrian to Basic now to…whatever they speak here.'_

Still hungry, and having been in this situation before, Seren did what he did best: improvise.

Waving slightly to grab the man's attention again, he pointed past him at the large pot/cauldron simmering over the coals. The smell of food was coming from that direction, and Seren was hoping his nose wasn't hallucinating.

He could almost see the light go on over the man's head as he realized Seren was actually communicating with him. In a motion that somehow had not only been common in every universe he had been in, but also the entirety of the galaxy he had traveled these last years, the one-eyed bartender rubbed his thumb against two of his fingers: _money_.

That obviously wasn't happening all things considered, which Seren pointed out by pulling his empty pockets out. Considering they _hadn't_ been empty before, he was going to have to figure that little mystery out…after he had eaten.

The barkeep shook his head and waved his hand in front of him, '_No_ _worries'_, and pointed behind Seren. When he turned to look at what he was indicating, he realized he was indicating Rolly, who had rolled up to settle behind him.

Tilting his head, Seren made a slight "hmmm?" noise while trying to intentionally look confused: '_What about it?'_

The barkeep looked hesitant for a moment before snapping his fingers; He reached into a box behind the bar and pulled out…a small purple magic stone. This was one of the smaller specimens he had encountered, similar to those that Rolly had turned into its outer armor/traction aspect of its shell. Slapping the stone down in front of Seren, he pointed back at the cauldron of what was apparently a form of stew, then at the stone, and then raised 4…no after a moment 5 fingers.

_DING!_

Not even thinking about it, Seren reached over to Rolly and with a mental command, summoned from his construct ten of the small purple stones that made up the automaton's shell, and slapping them down on the counter, pointed back at the cauldron and raised two fingers: _'I'm hungry damnit.'_

A dozen heartbeats or so later, he was swallowing the best food he had ever eaten, his onlookers forgotten.

JiO-JiO

"These things are still too sweet!" Bell shoved the honey cloud he had been trying to eat at Welf. Before he could take it however, a hand appeared between them and made it vanish into a small mouth. The two young men could only stare as Mikoto's jaw worked up and down, a look of bliss on her face that had both of her companions shifting uncomfortably. "Ahh…yea I think it's still way too sweet for me too…"

The three remaining members of Hestia Familia had been wandering a trail outside of town that had various fruit growing from them. It was _rumored_ that Crystal Drops occasionally fell out here, but they had yet to see any of the delicacies among the crystal formations. They had found plenty of the low hanging and incredibly, almost overly, sweet fruit known as honey clouds and had been consuming them as they went; Or so it would have been at least had Mikoto not been grabbing at any she, or they, found.

A shout from behind them towards the northern edge of Rivira had each turning their heads, hands reaching for their weapons almost instinctively, only them to relax as they recognized the lithe form of their supporter running towards them from up the hill.

"Well, lil'bit's 'either got good news or bad…here's hoping."

"Yea…hoping…"

Lilly skidded to a stop in front of the others as they came to their feet, chest heaving violently.

"You were…on…the wrong…side….town…whew" She finally paused for a moment to take a deep breath and recover. "The stranger…he woke up."

Welf sighed deeply as Bell and Mikoto both brightened visibly at the news.

"But I think he fell back to sleep…"

"oohh…kaaayyy...?" Bell and Mikoto both sighed this time.

"Then…what do we do…if he isn't going to stay awake…?" Bell leaned on his knees while trying to think, "We can't wait on him forever, and Goddess is going to need us back soon!"

Before he could continue deeper into his pit of confusion, Welf dropped his hand to his shoulder.

"Chin up buddy, Lady Hestia isn't going to be angry with us for helping someone that helped us first, and all that stuff at Apollo's place…probably isn't either. If he's awake, then at least he isn't _dead,_ which is a good start. Heck, maybe he woke up or something? Even if not, we'll probably run into him again." The older member of the familia rubbed Bell's white hair affectionately before giving a hard hit the shoulders, almost knocking him down, though Bell had to grin at it all. "So...we check up on Mr. Sword-guy, if he's awake, give him his stuff…and head back up?"

Seeing nods all around, Bell and the rest of the group proceeded to head back to town to maybe say good-bye to someone they had yet to even meet.

JiO-JiO

The streets of Orario's Northwest district were extra busy today. A recent caravan had just arrived from Meren with shipments from the Far East as well as the Western Lands, silks and exotic foods and ivory being delivered. As usual with shipments like this, the merchant quarters went wild buying and selling in return.

Orario was called the center of the world, that all the goods funneled in as the magic stone and magic-powered items flowed out demonstrated this.

The chaos was ignored, however, by a short Goddess with bells twinkling in her long black hair as she ran through the backstreets that separated the Northern Way with the Western Main. Many of the buildings in this district were both incredibly old as well as massive; Her previous love ne…err…home…with Bell had been a two-story church that had been utterly dwarfed on all sides by the immense apartment buildings to either side that had towered over the steepled church…back when it had a steeple…and had been a church…and was more than a pile of rubble…

"errrgg_hhhhh!_" Simply thinking about the destruction made her blood boil. If she hadn't managed to arrange the circumstance of the wargame last week to such a successful end, Hestia honestly didn't know what she would have done in vengeance.

Not the best outlook from a Goddess of the Hearth…but still…it felt good to think about. Speaking of thinking about things, as Goddess Hestia turned the corner, she saw down the way at the Blue Pharmacy, the deity Miach's home, a group of three adventurers with massive packs standing outside the door and directly in front of he-

_-Thud!- _Hestia found herself suddenly wrapped around someone as she collided full speed with…whomever…this was. All she saw was red…absolute red. Fuzzy and fluffy red at that.

Finally looking up from her stupor-induced collision, which all things considered, had been rather…cushioned…Hestia finally looked into the golden eyes of the dwarf with short blonde hair and long red beard.

"Ask and ye' shall receive said me' Momma!" The dwarf roared out laughingly as he stared down at the yet shorter Goddess that had just oh-so-lovingly careened into him, "Ya must be Goddess _Hestia!_"

She blinked. This was new. "Why…yes? I am? I am!" Hestia shook her head to clear the cobwebs from it and get her thoughts working again after the surprising encounter with the jovial adventurer. The weapons and armor practically screamed it.

"What can I do for you adventurer…?" she asked, cocking her head slightly as she realized that she did not know this child's name.

"Why it' be me that's doing a service for you milady!" Plucking an imaginary hat from his head, the dwarf bowed low to her before standing and pulling out…a letter. "A certain rabbit-y sort be askin' that I deliver this to his favorite Goddess. Lord Miach's quite delectable girl in there said to head to the North Street to find yas, but I see you came to us instead! To think that divinity is for more than just show!" The still-unnamed dwarf shook his head sadly in mock remorse, "But that grace is wasted on me, Jorgan of Goibniu Familia! I am but only able to bear tidings from Bell Cranell that he is, alas, detained in the dungeon and shall return shortly…which is…ah…I assume what the letter says." The amiable dwarf finished rather…sheeply.

"Oh! Well, _thank you_ Mr. Jorgan…I was getting worried about my child...ren I admit. Thank you for news, I am in your debt." Hestia suddenly remembered to actually _take_ the letter before her, thanking the man in the process.

"But alas, the joys of deified ones are wasted on me and my own, plus…we gotta go pound these rocks into other rocks. Farewell for now good Lady!" That grin still on his face, the dwarf backed away respectfully until joining the rest of his apparent party, recently returned from the dungeon she assumed, and departed to the Northeast where the homes and workshops of the smithy-familias and businesses mostly resided.

"What a strange man…huh." With that, Hestia continued inside, unfolding the, as per Bell's style, creatively folded letter. Apparently one of the many useless ideas and skills his _grandfather_ had put into the boy's head had included fancy letter foldings, that he could give to the girls he _met in the DUNGEON eerrrgghh_…pretty letters…aaghghh that old man…ruining her Bell's thoughts…

Hestia had been staying with Miach and Nazza since the destruction of her lov-_home!_ and been sleeping on a couch in the back. Bell would sleep on a blanket and pillow in the corner, while Mikoto and Welf still utilized their previous familia's residences until they had a place to move into, paying rent to avoid any confusions in the process.

The _supporter…_she was staying somewhere else for the moment as well.

Hestia tried not to think about her, even though she realized that she owed the prum girl a considerable amount for the success over Apollo Familia. Her dedication to Bell was truly admirable…if she _would just be more subtle about it!_ By the time Hestia fully walked into the Miach Familia residence/store…she was almost shrouded in a black miasma. The letter didn't help matters any.

"He says they're FINE! After some chase by monsters and someone getting hurt!" Hestia was looking down as she read, and a wide-eyed Naaza barely moved a chair piled high with empty glass vials out of the meandering goddess' way before she collided with it. "…waiting to see if he survives…not responding…will return shortly when his fate is known…"

"…how vague. And very _Bell-_ish I suppose…" With that, Hestia sighed and put the letter down on the counter as she plopped down into a chair set aside for patients and customers. Naaza had picked the letter up almost as soon as it touched the counter, Miach looking past her chienthrope ears to follow along, having just entered at the sound of Hestia's voice.

"…" Hestia looked up at the curious noise Lord Miach made as he read, a frown on her face as she saw the confused look on his face.

"…is something wrong? Did I miss something?" she blurted out, unable to contain her curiosity even for a moment over anything regarding her first familia member.

"No…not really…just strange really," Naaza nodded in agreement as Miach continued, "It's just odd, you see. With most magics and healing potions, the elixirs on the counter there for example, when they heal…they do so almost instantly. There is usually no question as to whether or not the individual is…_going to make it_…as Bell puts it."

Miach continued as he picked up one of the afore-mentioned magic potions, one of those potent enough to heal almost any wound. They were difficult to make, and as his familia had limited access to resources, they were especially difficult and limited for _them_ to make, despite the fact that they tended to make decent profits over those they did.

"For someone's life to be uncertain, even after taking one or more of these, is very unusual. What that usually means is the person was so close to death, and so damaged, that even as the elixir works, other parts not yet affected are dying. That implies far more than a simple accident in the dungeon. There, especially with potions such as this one…you're either alive or dead at the end of it all."

"Wait…are you saying Bell might be in _trouble_?!" Hestia's voice steadily went towards an upward octave shift as she spoke, her concern overriding her self-control.

"No Hestia, I simply suspect that there is more to the story than a simple encounter with another adventurer gone wrong. What is most likely is that there are more details than could be placed in a simple letter, and he understandably does not wish you to worry over details that are of no threat."

Naaza, still silent in the face of her God's wisdom, simply continued to nod her head while plucking the expensive vial from said deity's fingers to carefully place it back in the padded box from where it had come.

"So," The local God of Healing continued, "don't worry. One way or another they will be back soon. If the person they are waiting on is truly that badly injured, then he will either be dead shortly or just fine. Sad for him, but not for you my oh so dear Hestia." Miach finished reassuring his Goddess-friend, not noticing the glare and almost-silent growl emanating from Naaza as he finished with a gentle pat to his short friend's head.

JiO-JiO

Seren let his head fall to the bar-top, groaning slightly as he relaxed for what felt like the first time in forever. The one-eyed proprietor took the bowls away with a shake of his head and a grin. Seeing the desperation with which he had practically poured food into his mouth was obviously amusing to the pub owner and audience, if the chuckling from behind him were any indication.

However, even as the man took the bowls away, Seren could sense his confused gaze remain fixated on him. Already, Seren was beginning to come to some interesting conclusions about the people he had met.

In his travels, one of the first and at times most important thing to learn when arriving in a new universe was to figure out if they even _knew_ about the gate. Some societies did, some did not. The follow-on question followed a simple logic chain: If the society _did_ know of the gate, what did they _think_ about it? Even in his own, relatively short lifetime Seren had encountered places where people coming out of a gate were seen as demons and harbingers of chaos and ruin. Considering the traits of those who traveled the ways were not always…positive ones, this was no surprise. In other places, they were seen as gods. Seren _distinctly_ recalled being requested to impregnate all _thirty-two _of one king's daughters after his arrival. _That_ hadn't happened, though truth be told, at least two could say that at least he _tried_.

Another interesting element, one that was definitely seeming to be a critical one here, was language. The gate's locations were not always mirrored across the same continent, world, or at times it seemed even the same _galaxy_. As the very aspect of the Ways was infinity, technically all possibilities existed infinite times. One simply needed to be able to live and travel infinitely to see them. Seren was _not_ interested in trying to reach that particular goal however.

'_Three could have been reasonable to at least _try_ for…' _Seren mused to himself with a chuckle. At least no one would be able to put on his tombstones that he was a prude.

But language remained an issue very often. Languages varied immensely amongst the ways from the utterly mundane to absolutely bizarre. This language here seemed quite fast to him, a fair number of gutturals mixed in with both soft and hard consonants. Seren was going to need to do a trade with someone if he was going to learn quick.

_ 'But not here, that takes time and I'm not interested in staying here any longer than needed.'_

Whatever this town _was_, it was obviously not a major settlement. Everything he could see within this room and outside the wide doorway was quite…ramshackle. It looked as if this particular building had been built out of the pieces of another building, or multiple buildings. There was something _about_ this place that screamed replaceable. Considering they were living inside a dungeon, where the monsters could do as they just did and charge on up from below, he wouldn't be surprised to learn this place had taken a beating a couple…dozen…times.

_ 'And we're still underground. This is an outpost or something in the dungeon, I'm certain of it…'_

So, to him, or rather _them,_ the people around him, _how_ did he get down there? They hadn't seen him come down, his little display earlier likely would have reminded anyone if they had after all, and unless there were other entrances and exits further below _'Ha! Not likely!'…_ then they knew that he must be an oddity; More than likely anything else, they would have remembered someone passing through that didn't speak their language…at all.

Seren was chuckling to himself as he sat back up; Oh, _what_ these people must think about him. First encounters _normally_ didn't result in violence, and they seemed both to respect him a bit, as were they amused as well it seemed. That bartender had had a smirk on his face the entire time he had been sitting here. Perhaps there was a joke he was missing out on…the respect part might have been a miscommunication. That's how jokes tended to work after all.

Feeling more rejuvenated than he had in a long time after some actual sleep, be it near-death induced or not, and having eaten for the first time…

'_Damn…it's been three days total. I should remember to eat before a Gate ride from now on…'_

Suffice to say his batteries were recharged and he was ready to go on his way. There was a small issue however…his _stuff_.

"Hey Buddy…I've a question for you." Granted, the barkeep _definitely_ didn't understand a word he was saying, but Seren had mastered the art of _tone_…and even better…_charades_. As in the game charades. It was _absurdly_ useful for situations just like this. "I'm looking for my belt…it tends to hang out around here…wrap around this and that…?"

Seren had stood and pointing to his waist and making a buckling and circling motion to indicate his kit-belt. At the end of his little skit, Seren cocked his head and held out his hands questioningly; His cocked eyebrow asking a question.

"_Where is my stuff?"_

Being skilled at the whole charade _process_ enabled someone like him to communicate complex ideas such as …owner…belt…stuff. Or at least, it usually did.

The barkeep's face remained rather stoically expressionless as his eyebrows went up and his one eye looked from Seren's face to his waist and back again.

_"Are you insane?"_

"Shit." Apparently, he had gotten rusty at this. Suddenly, however, Seren snapped his fingers as he had another idea. Looking back at the barkeep, he held out his finger for him to wait.

_"Watch this"_

Before he could move again, the bartender crossed his arms and raised both eyebrows again questioningly.

_"I'm waiting…"_

Seren ignored the skepticism from his audience, and suddenly turned around and gave the patron at the table behind him, who had also been watching with an amused look his face, an apologetic look as he spoon-napped the man's spoon as he turned back to the bartender.

Holding the spoon in both hands…

"Meeooommmm…meeoooooooom…zzzzeeeuup!" Seren mimicked the sound of his weapon as he waved the spoon around like his weapon for a moment before, as he lowered the spoon, held out his hands wide in an expectant manner.

_"And that?"_

The barkeep simply sighed and he put his face in the palm of his hand for a moment before rolling his eyes and looking back up with another one of those cocked-eyed raised eyebrows.

_"You're an idiot."_

Seren simply spread his hands wider and looked back at the man with a silly grin.

_"But did you understaaaaand?"_

The one-eyed man simply sighed and shook his head in response, before suddenly giving a jerk and looking past Seren for a moment. When he looked back, the barkeep simply gave him a wooden look before nodding his chin over Seren's shoulder to the street at the group that had been impinging on his awareness for the last several moments, before going back to rubbing down dirty cups with an already dirty rag.

With his non-verbal discussion apparently over, Seren turned to the group and realized that the people in front of him were part of the group he had chased earlier before. What was surprising however was the sudden realization that they were all _kids_, or at least all considerably younger than him. The girl he had treated like a softball was almost the size of one, being extremely short while wearing that backpack that looked like it needed a repusorlift or two. The white-haired guy was actually a white-haired kid with an almost painfully bright expression on his face, albeit with surprisingly red eyes. The resemblance to a rabbit was…uncanny. Seren was actually wondering if one was in his family tree somewhere.

Behind the two of them were a tall red headed young man who immediately reminded Seren of the metal workers from Sullust. Maybe it was the way his shoulder muscles bunched up as if always ready to swing something with some force. Finally, there was the dark-haired girl with slanted eyes in a blue robe, with what looked to be simply chest straps for her breasts beneath the blue outfit.

_'The red head can't be 18 or 19 at oldest, and the rabbit-kid can be sixteen at most. The short one…not a _damn_ clue.'_

Seren was quickly coming to the conclusion that whatever this world was like, people here grew up _fast_. And these young adults, it seemed, had his things.

Seren gave the apparent leader, or at the one in front, a repeat performance of his lightsaber. At this bunny-boy straight up grinned with a look that looked like it might crack up any moment while nodding behind him at the ginger.

To this, the young man stepped around his increasingly in-charge rabbit while pulling a satchel off his shoulder, which he proceeded to set down on the bar with a _plop_ before pushing it Seren's direction.

Seren couldn't help but give an audible sigh of relief as he opened the bag and looked in; His lightsaber and kit-belt as well as his boot-mounted toolkits were all there. Seren had been so focused on his weapon that he didn't even notice the tension he was feeling until it flowed away; It was as though his lightsaber was a valve to his worries in his mind.

Pulling out the rest, it looked as though everything was there; His lightsaber of course, his utility belt with its various tools. His armored Zakkeg leather coat was there, though the originally thick and extremely durable leather had been all but destroyed in the various encounters from below. Considering what the leather was _supposed_ to protect against, this was doubly astonishing. All that was left was the many hexagonal Beskar plates that were space-welded to similar wires that linked it all together in a normally protective yet highly mobile armor. _'I'm going to need a new jacket…'_

Seren stood then and quickly reattached his utility belt to where it belonged, his lightsaber hanging from a special slot on the side. From where it normally rode, it rose to almost waist height while falling to mid-thigh. Had the Jedi Mage not stood as tall as he did, it would have been an inconvenient weapon to carry, but he had made it the exact length it was to barely skirt that line of annoyance and convenience.

Near-useless armor plates simply hanging over his shoulder, Seren held out his hand to shake the white-haired youth's hand in front of him in thanks. Luckily, _that_ tradition was followed here as he quickly responded with a smile.

This problem resolved, he decided to try his luck at another communication. Quickly pointing to the young man's head, Seren started miming scrubbing his head and arms with a fake brush. When he was done, he held out his hands and shrugged with a wistful look around.

_'Any idea where I can get a wash?'_

This time however, he was surprised at the response. Before either the white-haired boy could respond, or the barkeep behind him, it was the black-haired girl with olive skin that responded…_very_ enthusiastically. The girl practically started hopping up and down speaking so fast that Seren wasn't even sure where one word could have started or ended, before suddenly rushing out of the tavern.

Her friends…all put slapped their faces with their palms while the short girl in the robe mysteriously _glared_ at the group's leader before following her friend out the door. The male half of the party simply shook their heads while the now mysteriously red-faced boy motioned for Seren to follow as he and the now grinning smith-type walked out.

_'I really hope I didn't just miscommunicate somehow…because I think I'm missing something.' _With that thought in mind, Seren followed. Rolly, who had as usual reminded quite silent and still, simply crunched along behind.

Back in the bar, Bors could only shake his head, "Kids."

JiO-JiO

"Lilly has _nothing to warn Master Bell about_…does she?"

"Lilly! I did-" "_DOES she?"_

Bell sighed, giving up to the inevitable as a stubborn-faced, flaring Lilly stood glaring up at him as Welf and the stranger looked on, amused smirks on their faces. The muck-covered man obviously didn't know _what_ was being said, but it was clear that the much shorter prum was putting Bell in his place for something.

With that said, Lilly turned and handed to Seren a brown piece of soap; "Mr. Seren will need that." With that being said, Lilly followed the pond along to the other side of some tall fronds where, to a second smirk that was somewhat quicker this time since Welf had looked his way, Mikoto's robe and red pauldrons had come flying to a rest from the other side. In response to all this, Bell had sat down on a rock with his back pointedly facing the far side where the girls were, where he simply muttered to himself about crazy women and murdering prums. Welf sat down and, as usual when idle, began inspecting his sword for any nicks or damages to repair later.

On the way over to the semi-oasis, the four members of Hestia Familia had introduced themselves haltingly to the stranger, each deciding to follow the stranger's example of simply touching the chest and saying his or her name. The man obviously had a longer, much longer, name but after starting the first time had trailed off in realization at the 4 sets of confused looks he was getting. So it was that with a grin, he had simply bowed his head and with a palm to his chest said "Seren."

Seren set his kit on a rock next to the water, lightsaber resting on top, before undoing the hidden catches that released his boots and armored pants. Stepping into the water, he was somewhat surprised to find it was mildly warm. Considering they were located in a cave, there shouldn't BE any warm water that was not coming from a hot spring; This oasis was likely spring fed, but it didn't have the normal scent of sulfur that hot springs tended to emit. Ultimately however, he didn't care. After running through the jungles of Felucia, followed by the near 24 hours of various tortures this dungeon had put him through, Seren was sore and filthy. The water nearest him quickly turned black before flowing away as the layers of mud, blood (his and monster's alike), soot, and ash washed away. Hair that had been unrecognizable before now was quickly exposed to be dark brown with jet-black streaks running through it. Muscles and slightly tanned skin that had been mostly obscured were revealed, along with the rest.

Welf had been focused on his blade locating its newer flaws, before he reached for a whet stone from his belt pouch. He had to catch it however as it suddenly slipped out of his fingers, a catch that after straightening from being bent over, brought Seren into his view.

"…Eh?" Welf's confused sound caused Bell to suddenly twist around, eyes scanning around to located what had caught his friend's attention. His own focus quickly latched to what the smith had been looking at: The stranger.

Or to be precise, the stranger's skin. What under the several layers of…stuff…he had been covered in, was exposed what could only be called a painting of life. The first thing that caught their attention were the patterns of blue-green tattoos that swirled around his limbs and sides and from here, it seemed up his back. Positioned at critical points where well-defined muscles overlapped, the sharp swirls were obviously applied with incredible care and skill. The end result of the designs, while attractive to look at, also highlighted his physical condition; A broad chest with paper-thin skin stretched across them, moving with an ease that exposed the level of both strength but athleticism that he had obviously possessed from before. The second thing that _truly_ caught their eye however…

It was the scars. A myriad of scars of different sizes, shapes and from obviously different sources covered the skin like a second layer of tattoos. His right arm had a ring of scar running around it that seemed to indicate it had actually been removed at one point. Burns, and what looked like healed _holes_ dotted his entire torso and his back…

…his Back. From where the two young men sat, they could see the half of his back that even from there they could make out the slew of diagonal, mostly parallel lines that crisscrossed the length of it.

The man had been whipped, thoroughly, at one point. Welf and Bell could only stare, both jaws slightly agape. They had seen wounds and scars before of course, the dungeon was full of adventurers proudly displaying the physical evidence of their courage. But seeing so many on one person was incredibly _rare_. The healing power of elixirs and other health potions tended to repair scar tissue even as it healed the wound it was being applied to correct in the first place. Simply put, while many adventurers would walk away from the dungeon with a wound or two here and there, said wounds were usually gone within a day after receiving either healing potions or magical spells. It was obvious to the two that this man, he had suffered over the course his life; Wounds they would have healed within moments or hours had been for him the whole package, weeks of idleness healing followed by weeks more to recover the lost fitness.

He had lived a rough life.

Seren had been watching the two look him over with the surprised looks on their faces. Language wasn't needed to communicate between people in the violent professions what had happened. He could tell there was something _else_ in their gaze, but he dismissed it for the time. He caught their eyes as he began wading back to the shore, the greatly used-up bar of soap in his hand as he gave a simply, sad shrug; "Life is brutal. You just to keep going and let the scars do the remembering."

Neither Bell nor Welf understood what he was saying of course, but the man's tone and expression were clear enough: _'It is what is is…keep going.'_

Seren quickly got dressed after getting out, and with no desire to carry the armor over his shoulder, decided to just go with it for then and put the armor plates on as usual, ignoring the scratch of the metal against skin. Feeling finally restored back to normal, he sat down opposite of the two boys, forming a triangle with them, and simply began spinning his lightsaber around his hand while all three men waited on the girls.

They surprisingly didn't have to wait too long actually. It was only a fist or two-ful of minutes later that the purple robe, as well as the white one that had joined it, disappeared from where they were hanging from the pond fronds. Minutes later, Lilly and Mikoto, who in her case had an incredibly serene expression on her face, emerged from behind to join the men wringing out their slicked hair.

Before anyone could say anything, Seren clapped his hands together with a snap, grabbing the attention of the rest; Bell's mouth snapped shut, he had been about to speak when the stranger clapped.

All eyes on him, Seren could only give each of the others the most appreciative look he could imagine before simply pointing upwards, and with a similar gaze towards the crystal ceiling said one word: "Up?"

It was almost comical to watch as the flurry of quick glances bounced around the group of four as each person looked at each of the others before they all almost simultaneously looked back Seren's way. With a smile and sharp nod, Bell responded to the word they could all guess: "Let's go."

With that said, the five adventurers turned towards the exit up to the 17th level and the surface, a stranger and his rolling rock following behind the rest as the Hestia Familia fell into its standard formation. They were going home.


	5. Light of Discordia

All DanMachi and Starwars content is owned either by NA Yen Press or Walt Disney Studios respectively.

Chapter 5: Light of Discordia

The collection of adventurers and their accompanying rolling collection of magic stones were trying to make their best time through the middle levels. Moving at a steady jog, Welf proceeded at the head of the formation as they moved through the 17th floor towards the exit on the far side of a seemingly convoluted maze of looping tunnels that, like those below, soared to massive heights above them. As Seren brought up the rear of the group, his gaze kept leaping to the shadows above where it _seemed_ that there were vertical shafts linking to levels above. Without a good look however, he was unsure if that was what he was actually seeing.

The group had been leaving behind the massive chamber near the exit with the shattered wall of translucent crystal when the Jedi Mage had finally gotten the chance to run his hand along the wall, sending out his now instinctual mapping pulse. Seren could not, in fact, ever recall having to use this little trick as much or as often as he had here and like any talent that was heavily used, its use was becoming simpler and more natural to him. No longer was it taking him an entire minute to gather the aether for the mental shove outwards, but he was now finishing it in the span of handfuls of seconds.

"_Incoming ahead to the left!_" His sudden warning saw every head in front of him snapping around to look at him, confusion written on their faces; The confusion faded however when they saw him unsnapping his weapon from his waist as he pointed with his off-hand toward an intersecting hall up ahead.

Though always aware down here, Welf found the warning extra useful, though he didn't know _exactly_ what Seren had just said, as his prepositioned blade barely had to twitch to shove itself, edge first, into the face of a suddenly-leaping lygerfang that emerged from the shadows higher up the walls of the tunnel. Behind the first came three more, the animals leaping in concert.

The first of the tiger-striped cats with overgrown fangs stumbled back, its lower jaw hanging from thread flesh after having encountered Welf's broad longsword. With a shout, Bell was sliding on his knees past the taller Redhead, running both the Hestia Knife and Ushiwakamarunishiki, his red minotaur horn-forged knife, through the belly of a second beast spilling blood and guts in his wake. A third monster was intercepted by Mikoto who, propelled from a shove off Welf's shoulder, struck upwards and directly into the lygerfang's mouth and throat.

The final lygerfang however, had run sideways across the wall before leaping at the fourth, and most vulnerable, of the front group: Lilly. The prum's golden arrow she fired from her bow gun, _Little Ballista_, buried deep in the monster's shoulder…but did little else. The monster roared in furry as it flew the final length through the air, its massive claws extended to rip into the short girl.

The monster never reached her, however. As it neared the end of its flight, the lygerfang simply…_slid_…sideways through the air. The result was a supremely surprised monster crashing into the stone floor almost face first where is slid for several meders. As it went to stand from the impact, a twinkling light before it caught its attention where, standing as casually as ever, Seren stood with his hand out, a blue-white star shimmering in his outstretched palm.

Before the beast could do more than open its mouth, the magic missile in his hand simply _burst_ forward, almost too fast to see before burning into, and through, the lygerfang's mouth; detonating out the back of its neck in a spray of blood, fur, and smoke. It was ash a moment later.

Lilly did her best to look as…unconcerned…as possible while looking at Seren, who in return simply gave that silly grin and _winked_ back her?

'_What is _that_ supposed to mean?'_ Lilly simply "harumphed" while moving to grab up the magic stones on the ground, her supporter role kicking in. Just as she reached the third however, the stone she was grabbing simply _jerked_ to the side, almost ripping free of her grasp. It was sheer reaction and Lilly-based stubbornness that the stone did not go flying…directly into the vertical pancake that Bell had been calling "Rocky".

"Hey!" Lilly grabbed at the magic stone with both hands, leaning backwards as the construct in turn doubled its efforts to gather up additional pieces of magic stone for its shell. The rest of her familia stood there, stunned, as she fought to keep the purple rock in her hand. "Rocky" was implacable however and the stone began to slip from her grasp when suddenly…

_-Whack!-_ Seren slapped the Disc hard with his palm, "Give her the stone! You've already got a thousand or so of the damn things!" In truth, Rocky/Rolly was comprised of _only_ a mere 800-ish of the purple magic rocks, most of them the small, fingernail sized stones that made up the bulk of its exterior. Most of its volume however consisted of the larger stones ranging up to the size of large balls from the more _major_ beasts Seren had felled. Its child suddenly interrupting its attempt to grow its shell however…

Lilly flew backwards, stone in hand, to land on her butt, her lithe legs going up into the air. The Hestia adventurers could only stare at their prum supporter in shock while Seren looked on with an incredibly apologetic expression written all over his face. He had _not_ intended for _that_ to happen. Just as he opened his mouth to apologize to the glaring supporter who, in turn, was opening her mouth to yell at the automaton, Seren reacted.

Spinning in place, Seren reached for his waist, and with one motion pulled out, and for the first time since leaving level 18, activated his lightsaber with a _-snap-hiss-_ that filled the expansive corridor with its steady, throbbing hum.

He did this just in time for a massive stone axe to be cleaved in two, the pieces flying off in separate directions, that the minotaur just walking around the corner had thrown. As the red-eyed monster advanced further into the corridor from the almost hidden intersection, others began to follow…many others.

For the first time the Hestia Familia watched as a whole, up close, Seren fight. The result was literally jaw dropping and eye opening for all but Bell, who had already witnessed, intimately so, the destructive skill the man possessed. Seren had reacted to the sudden attack by charging forward toward his opponent, which had itself immediately dropped down to charge with its horns out front.

Instead of stopping or switching to a guard, Seren simply ran forward, single blade extended out and across his chest, and as he neared the oncoming minotaur he _jumped_, flying forward almost parallel to the ground. As he passed mere celch above the minotaur's horns, he lowered his blade just enough to carve a fist-deep groove from the start of the beast's head and straight down its spine, where a flip later, Seren landed on his feet behind it.

The brain bisected and spine practically vaporized, the minotaur burst into ash even as Seren settled into a combat stance, weapon held out front in a reverse grip, the blade extending back down and across his chest. The remaining minotaurs, temporarily stunned at the sudden death of their leader, paused…and the with a unanimous roar _charged_. And they died.

Six in all, the beasts came forward both in singles and pairs to try and crush their smaller foe. The lead minotaur raised a land-form sword to strike, but before it could bring the weapon down in a crushing blow, Seren simply rolled forward to the beasts side, twisting left at the last moment to sweep his blade across his body, and through minotaur's left knee, cutting it off entirely.

Temporarily ignoring the now screaming and wailing monster, Seren continued the spin only to reach out with his left hand and _push_, shoving the right-hand minotaur backwards a surprised step while in turn his right hand extended outwards while in a leaping thrust, burning straight through the left-hand beast's chest. This beast was turning to ash even as the Jedi took two dancing skip-hops to his right, where with one, two, and three swings cut through the second opponent's now recovered axe handle, it's arm, and finally through its throat.

Seren then skipped _backwards_ 3 steps just in time to avoid the massive club that shattered the floor while he again spun and this time let fly a magic bolt straight into the eye of the now infuriated, yet moderately crippled beast he had first struck. This time it died.

With the first three minotaurs dead in less than a dozen heart beats, he again jumped forward, only this time to reach out towards a monster and _pull_, at which the right-hand monster flew forward with a surprised, very un-_minotaur_-esque squawk, to be impaled on the gold-yellow blade as it flew by Seren, the blade burning through the back with a puff of smoke. This one was bursting to ash even before it struck the ground.

This last minotaur's companion demonstrated at least a form of intelligence at it first struck at the ground near Seren's feet, trying to blast him _off_ said feet with the concussion through the ground at the incredible impact. In response Seren…simply casually hopped over the shockwave that rippled forward, with first one, then two blue-white bolts flashing from his left hand and into the beast's throat, effectively severing its head except for a sliver of sinew over the spine. As the final monster ran by its now dead companions with an ear-splattering scream, Seren simply knelt.

Just in time for the magic stone Rolly had just lobbed through the air to explode into motion, bursting into a bright white-purple flare as the magically charged stone was mentally thrown forward, and through, the final beast's chest. The explosion blew the body backwards, all four limbs being severed in place to fall to the ground there.

Fifteen, maybe sixteen heartbeats…and seven of the more dangerous monsters the middle-floors could summon lay dead before a man that had barely begun to sweat.

With his casual smirking grin on his face, Seren waved his hand and a moment later, six magical stones piled into it, summoned through the force. Throwing three at Rolly, who of course immediately sucked them into and onto its body, Seren placed the other three in Lilly's almost-limp hand, closing her fingers over the stones so she wouldn't drop them. Lilly was simply, along with the others, staring intermittently between Seren and the six piles of ash that had oh so suddenly appeared.

"You seem to like them…maybe make some jewelry or something?" Seren said, his grin as wide as ever, the twinkle in his simply not being noticed by the slowly recovering prum.

"Shall we continue?"

With that said, Seren turned to step ahead of his still wide-eyed and frozen companions, before coming to a halt as nearly a dozen red-eyed, white furred rabbit-monsters emerged from the surrounding rocks.

Looking first at the monsters that were slowly picking up small landforms, then to the similarly red eyed, white haired young man near him, and back again…he opened his mouth to speak…

"…", Seren stopped to think, looked _back_ at the monsters spreading out around them, and back once again to Bell before, _again_, opening his mouth to speak-

"THEY'RE_ CALLED _Al-MIRAJ!" With a shout and a furious glare, Bell leapt past him to stab the first of the…Al-Miraj…through the chest before continuing on.

Seren simply stood there with his head cocked confusingly to the side as he watched the young man leap from large…rabbit to rabbit killing as he went.

Finally, he shrugged, "Huh…they just…look like you…"

JiO-JiO

The fires burned as usual; their near-endless flames powered by the slowly consumed magical stones within the lamps. Eventually, the lamps themselves would be quietly replaced by guild employees before the stones could have the chance to burn out, giving the worship chamber of Ouranos a perpetually flickering glow.

The God of the Sky now below sat head bowed, chin resting on steepled fingers, eyes lidded in deep thought until, "You have news my friend…" The ancient-looking deity's voice rumbled through the room as just then, as though uncovered from a shroud of nothingness, a shadowy cloaked figure emerged from the air.

Fels nodded his hooded head as he responded to the Master of the Guild, "It is as you say, the dungeon has stilled. I was unable to reach level 19 as the passage through has been collapsed by the residents."

"…"

"…But…there was something odd. The general discussion was of a stranger that had almost died coming up from down below. The Little Rookie and his companions apparently encountered him, and later saved him as the residents of Rivira destroyed the lower entrance. I did not see them on my way back up, so I assume I simply took one of the wrong stairways up, so I have no evidence as to any of this besides overhearing the…drunks."

"…did these drunken…adventurers…speak of his name or familia?"

Fels remained silent for a moment, earning him the sudden and curious gaze of the previously inward-seeing God.

"…no, actually. Indeed, I heard tell that not only had no one ever seen this man before, but they were unable to identify either him or his familia while he was incapacitated. He was a stranger to all of Rivira it seems." To this, Ouranos' eyes widened slightly before narrowing in contemplation at the news.

"Watch…Cranell…and the others. Do not have the staff interfere for now…I am curious to learn about this…person…but from afar…for the time."

"…Yes." With the final word said, Fels glided away into the darkness, leaving the room silent to all but for the flickering flames.

JiO-JiO

They had made it to level one. Six hours of intermittent jogging, walking, and fighting had filled their time and now, as the group entered into one of the chambers that connected to one of three stairways leading upwards to the surface, they were finally beginning to relax, or rather, relax more.

"Lilly has _never_ seen someone defeat monsters like that! Mr. Seren here is level five at least, maybe six!" The group had for the last hour begun discussing their companion who they could not understand, nor he them. At first Mikoto had been nervous while trying to ask Bell what he thought of his fighting style, but the stranger simply grinned at her as if to say, _'It's ok, I know what you're doing, don't be shy.'_

How he managed to convey so much with nothing more than a look and a smile was stunning, but after that the group had begun openly discussing their companion as they travelled. Every once in a while, they stopped to deal with a surprise encounter or a monster party, but even then, they were never surprised. Seren also possessed not only an ability similar to Mikoto's that allowed him to know when monsters were near, but he was also able to indicate exactly where they were or _would_ come from. Probably the most stressful part of the trip upward had occurred on the seventh level when Seren found himself incredibly amused by a killer ant head that had rolled around. Before anyone could stop him, he started to continue on his way while kicking the head on the top of his feet like some form of gnashing, snapping ball.

It was only when Lilly had run up and kicked him, rather hard, in the shins and Bell incinerated it that he realized everyone was suddenly hyper alert. As such, the sudden wave of easily over a hundred more killer ants swarming through the now enclosed halls was not as great a surprise as it could have been. In response, Seren decided to really stretch his own mental abilities and decided to see how many of them he could kill…without using weapons.

Everyone but Bell had frowned when Seren had gently motioned for them to cover one direction while he alone took the other; While the others had seen evidence of what this man could do, it was only Bell that truly comprehended how dangerous he was. As such, they only had to cover one side as a group while Seren…annihilated…the other half on his own.

Blue flashes of energy had turned ants to smoldering ruin while what seemed to be an invisible hand simply grabbed at the creatures and _crushed_ them against the walls, ceiling, and floor. Never even drawing his weapon, his hands had simply danced in elaborate patterns while tearing apart the monsters attempting to rampage over him. At one point, one ant had actually managed to make it past his electric-blue barrage and _jump_ at him, only for it to land on a glimmering, hexagonal shield for a moment before being crushed between both shield and wall.

Eventually, the flood turned to a trickle, and finally stopped altogether as the ants came and died. The ash and magical stones literally _covered_ the floor. Heedless of this however, Lilly stomped over to him where, next to his foot lay another _final_ gnashing ant head, she violently _stomped_ it into the ground. With a glare up at the tall Jedi Mage, she simply said that "Mr. Seren will _not_ be doing that _again._"

Even without fully understanding the language, Seren had no difficulty understanding the short girl with burning hazelnut eyes glaring up at him. "Ah…yea…I won't do that again…"

The entire time, Seren had enforced a 50/50 split of the magic stones even though, truth be told, he was eliminating most of the monsters that came their way, even in the middle floors. As such, Rolly had continued to grow to the point that it was now easily neck-height to the already tall, almost 190 celch high man. Lilly had run out of space in her pack and now had balanced on the top of the unwieldy load another sack full of magic stones. _How_ the tiny girl was able to carry such a load with such apparent ease, he did not even _want_ to know. Some things, like a woman's weight, was not up for discussion.

As the group began ascending the curving staircase to the sub-floor surface, Seren's gaze repeatedly swept the area, an intrigued look on his face they were passing through and the many people moving both up and down.

'_They've sealed the dungeon…and are _farming_ it. That must have been one hell of a feat to make all _this_ while not getting everyone killed in the process. And the risk…well that thing up there minimizes that I suppose…but damn…without actual tech, which I haven't seen any real evidence of, this place and that damn lid must have been hell to make_' Above, Seren had noticed the "lid" that was suspended by numerous steel cables over the final exit to the surface. Stretching the nearly 100 meters from side to side, a multi-faceted, metal-encased, massive cap was hung, ready to be dropped in case of the final, most absolute emergency of an "emergence event", or basically if the monsters flooded up from below.

"Well if this guy was level _anything_, then he wouldn't be so surprised at this place. It's like he's never seen the entrance before." Welf commented back while they climbed, and indeed Seren was, as was once called, '_rubbernecking' _the area. "And that rolling rock of his is going to cause a riot if we're not careful. We need to get those things turned in fast." Indeed, Rolly was garnering considerable attention from adventurers both ascending and descending the stairs to the dungeon. Considering it was made up of an absurd number of magic stones, the reactions were understandable.

"Yea…we'll get him to Miss Eina at the guild…hopefully she'll know what to do with him…" Bell was secretly hoping that he wasn't, again, somehow bringing down a stern yelling from his advisor. "…yea she'll know what to do."

No one looked exactly positive, and even Seren, having noticed the somewhat worried looks and glances his way, had begun to look wary and resigned.

JiO-JiO

The 'Riot' that Welf had been worried about, never happened. Only, however, because of one important fact he not considered: It was lunch time.

While the townsfolk of Orario were out and about for various lunch dates and meetings, the vast majority of the cafes, pubs, and restaurants that serviced the townsfolk and adventurers alike were located on the west, northwest, and south eastern ways that extended from the Tower of Babel like spokes on a wheel. Fortunately for the group walking, and rolling, their way to the guild hall, said hall was located roughly halfway between the edge of town and the tower on the north western road. There were still plenty of people, be they children of Gekai or deities, that saw them however and there was still something of a buzz surrounding them as they finally arrived at the large structure that housed the administration offices of the Guild of Adventurers of Orario, or simply "The Guild".

Having been through events like this before, though granted, not in a couple decades, Seren could only resign himself glumly to what was to come. This was the part where either he managed to either slip by as the "Stranger from Somewhere Else"…or starting killing people Wholesale. There had been that _one_ time for example, that things had accelerated absurdly quickly into violence; Apparently there were places in the universe where it was considered common courtesy from strangers for said stranger…to be a main course at a banquet. To _BE_ a main course…not be _AT_ a main course.

That…had gone poorly.

So it was that the group of adventurers, both known and not, walked and rolled through the swinging doors into the main lobby of the Guild headquarters. Seren hesitated a moment before passing through, taking a final glance behind him and down the way they had come; The massive tower that served as the housing for the cap to the dungeon dominated the skyline, soaring so high that the very top of it was shrouded in a lazily passing cloud. More impressive to Seren was not the height of the building, who had walked the by-ways of Coruscant, a world of cities kilometers tall, but the oddity of its engineering. With sides that sloped almost vertical in their ascent, it didn't _look_ as though the building was made of anything other than stone and mortar, but in all his time travelling the Ways, Seren had _never_ seen such a structure. It seemed…impossible…almost…considering the _where_ of its construction.

Seren recognized an administrative area when he saw one; The Republic had been a morass of "administration" and entire structural zones were dedicated to the administration of the world, worlds, and systems under its domain. This was of course a smaller scale, but the line of attendants standing behind the long counter with pre-filled forms set aside was the universal symbol for "Fill this out, pay me something, and off we go". It was towards one of these stations that his present companions were heading. Not really knowing what else to do, Seren followed…and Rolly rolled.

JiO-JiO

"Eina! Eiinnnaa!" Eina closed her eyes and counted backwards from 10. By the time she reached 8, she decided to start over at 100 and see if it would work any better. However, rather than as usual, Misha didn't eventually leave her to her paperwork, but grabbed her shoulder. Again, her reports were interrupted.

"_Misha, if you…_huh?" Before Eina could offer a suitable threat to her rambunctious and too-oft distracted co-worker/friend, Eina spotted a puff of white hair over her shoulder at the counter.

"Ms. Eina! It's so glad to see yo-_uukkk!" _Eina's fist was wrapped around the top of Bell Cranell's breastplate, pulling him halfway over the desk so she could press her nose against his, her green eyes pouring fury through her wireframe glasses into his almost glistening red ones.

"Bell. Craneeell…._WHAT_….did I _SAY_….about _SEEKING. OUT. ADVENTURES?"_ "Aghhhh! Ms. Eina I didn't! I swear!" Bell had scared, shocked, and bewildered his advisor a number of times already in the last two and half months that he had been adventuring, but this was the first time that she reacted with sheer…_emotion_.

"Oh _really?_ Then would you care…to explain…a red…_DRAGON?" "_Aahhhhh! Uh…uh…Him! It was his fault!" For a moment Eina's eyes flicked up to follow Bell's outstretched arm which was waving desperately behind him as he remained bent and pulled half over the counter. The sight that met her was mildly bewildering as standing behind a grinning Welf, exasperated Lilly, and astounded Mikoto was an older adventurer in probably the strangest armor she had seen in a while, albeit by no means the _least_ protective…that went to amazons usually after all…and he had behind what looked like a rock '_What is tha…no it's not important!' _

"So you're saying it's all_ his_ fault…that you were chased by skull sheep…and _spartoi_…and _FOMOIRE_…not to mention a _RED…FREAKING..DRAGON_…out of what was surely…_only_…the 20th floor?" Eina's voice while burning with anger and passion, had managed to turnly sickly sweet as she pulled Bell yet farther over the counter to the point their faces were touching even closer, much to the growing dismay of a brown-haired prum on the other side of the counter.

"Uhhh…ahh…_yes_….actually? I'm…pretty sure…they were chasing…um…him…?" Eina barely looked past Bell at the figure of the adventurer she had yet to actually meet. She was far more focused on who she was beyond certain had actually caused yet another round of chaos.

"So you're saying that you _didn't_ happen to take your party deeper into the dungeon than you were recommended to, or even _said_ you were going to? Taking a level _one_ supporter only recently released to your familia with you?" She said, referring to the wide-eyed, flabbergasted prum on the other side of the counter.

"Or the still level two smith who I am _certain_ does not meet the _requirements_ for that area? What were they again…_Bell?" _Eina was, of course, referencing Welf who at the moment was holding his hand over mouth trying not to laugh. "Aahh…C…to 24…..Level 3 at…27…?"

"And does your final member of your party _also_ have _WHAT_ ability that she MUST have when passing below the 18th floor?" Eina was, this time, referencing Mikoto, who like all adventurers wass recommended a certain ability in order to survive the many toxins and poisons experienced below the 18th floor. She was at the moment turning red holding her hand over her mouth. "Aaahhh…abnormal resistance…and…um…yes?"

With a final glare, Eina somehow pulled her protégé yet closer with her final question. "So, you're saying it's _all_…_this…man's…fault?"_ Bell, suddenly realizing that he might have put a perfectly innocent stranger into the explosive radius of his advisor and that might not be the nicest thing to do could only really say…

"…yes?"

With that, Eina Tulle released Bell's armor, who slid back over the counter only to almost collapse, and turned with her declarative and dangerous finger/glare combo to point directly at…

…A scene that froze her in place, one to which Lilly stood completely wide-eyed in both shock and delight, Welf was holding his stomach trying not to cry from the cramp his silent laughter was causing, and Mikoto was turning unhealthily red under her purple eyes from watching…

The stranger. The stranger who was at that very moment…stacking magic stones on one Misha Flott's head.

Misha was frozen in place, eyes wide and twitching, mouth barely moving as she tried to utter _something, _her finger half stretched out toward what Eina suddenly realized was a…_very…_large collection of magical stones shaped like a wheel.

_'How they got that in here without me noticing…?' _But that thought wasn't the one that froze her solid.

No, it was the stranger who at the moment had managed to stack, oh so carefully, three magic stones on top of her pink-haired coworker's head. As she stood there watching, as was almost the entirety of the large reception room of the Guild hall, the stranger was at the moment, with tongue sticking from beneath his teeth and a focused look on his face, trying to gently balance a fourth stone on top of the three below it…on Misha's head.

Finally, literally without taking a breath, he gently released the magic stone and moved away from her, still, completely motionless friend, a proud look on his face and he held his hands to his hips in self-congratulation.

The look slowly shifted to concern as he continued to look at her still frozen-in-shock friend, and after waving his hand in front of her face without reaction began snapping his fingers. When that resulted in…no reaction at all, the stranger took desperate measures.

Carefully, and gently considering the purple cargo on her head, reached out and with a finger, lifted Misha's hanging jaw.

It dropped open again. He lifted it again…she dropped it…he lifted it…-_SMACK!- _

_ "Aggghh!_" Misha jerked, her hand flying to her cheek where Eina had just slapped her.

"_Aggghh!"_ The stranger desperately scrambled at the magic stones that went tumbling…from her _head_.

Both pink haired girl and brown/black haired man looked sheepishly at Eina who was glaring at both of them, finger outstretch and pointing. "You!" Seren sighed as-"You!" -_gulp-_

"_Focus!"_

Despite not _really _knowing what the clerical-girl with the intense gaze was saying…Seren could guess. He and the pink-haired girl across the counter from him both nodded in subdued unison.

Seeing Misha, and the…very…strange adventurer who was currently shooting a now blushing Misha an amused grin, somewhat focused and…functional again, Eina turned to what had caused her friend's brain to stop working.

It was the large disc-shaped stone that was…oh dear. It was made of _magic_ stones. Eina suddenly found her brain making bizarre sensations as she tried for a moment, and unsuccessfully, to mentally calculate just how much this this was _worth_. Standing shoulder-height with the grinning adventurer, who easily the tallest individual immediately present, and perhaps 70 or 80 celch thick at its widest, assuming it was _completely_ comprised of magical stones…

Eina shook her head. It didn't matter, this was _not_ her job. There was an entire department in the tower and over in the accounting office only a few windows over that could deal with…that.

"Welf, Mikoto, Lilly…person…please take a seat. Bell and I have a few things to discuss." Everyone, except for Seren who this time had no idea what had been said, simply nodded and in turn walked over to the seats at the far end of the room to sit. The…rolling disc…crunched…its way across the blue and white tiles. Before she pulled Bell in to one of the advisement offices, she couldn't help but wonder…

'_Crunchy…that's as good a name as any I suppose…'_

JiO-JiO

"-and then we finally came up here. The last seven levels were no issue, especially with him, and since there weren't any more killer ants we made good time. So…I thought we'd come here and…figure out what to do with him." Bell finished plaintively but confidently now that, as usual, his advisor had calmed down enough to allow her brain to function at its higher-than-usual capacity.

"I see…hmmmm." To say that Bell had brought his advisor a tough one was putting it lightly. Bell was currently watching his advisors eyes go slightly unfocused as they usually did when she was thinking extra hard.

"The major issue is the fact that he obviously isn't from here. You're right, even out there anyone could tell he hadn't seen the building before and," Eina continued her thought while re-focusing on Bell, "and he would have _had_ to come through here in order to get his pass and to register. And I _know,_" extra emphasis there, "that we have _not_ had anyone come through any time recently who did not have at least a _basic_ grasp of Koine." Koine being, of course, the near-universally known language that was considered the language of trade, politics, and deities.

Eina was drumming her fingers together as she continued to think again for a few moments before coming to a decision. If there was anything she did know after dealing with various managers in the Guild, especially the senior-manager, was that she did not have authority to make anything even resembling a decision about the current situation. _Anything_ she did would come back to bite her, and potentially her student and maybe even the stranger from below, in the back.

No, she was not going to be deciding anything on this.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do." Eina raised her hand as she began ticking off fingers and directions, "First, we get those magic stones _turned in_. The Guild would _murder_ us, maybe literally, if we allowed that many magic stones to just walk…roll…leave the building after having entered." Bell nodded at this, taking mental notes.

"Second, _I_, as in _me_, will report this up my chain of command. I am sure they'll have an idea as to figure out what language he's speaking, where he's from, who his familia is, all that." Bell was still nodding, hair flopping about slightly.

"Third, _you_ will take him with you and _keep_ him with you." Bell froze so fast that his hair, which had been gently swinging, suddenly whipped up to hit him in the eye. "huh…ow…what?" Bell was thinking he hadn't heard right while he was rubbing his assaulted eye.

"You know him, he knows you, and from what you said you can somewhat communicate. All adventurers technically serve at the will of the Guild in times of emergency and distress, and I guarantee you that everyone who works for something starting with a _G_ is going to consider an unknown individual who _never entered the dungeon_ coming up _out_ of the dungeon to be pretty close to an emergency. The possibilities it indicates…well…I don't know _what_ it means." Eina sighed and rubbed her head at the headache that had long since established itself. "So, take him with you, keep him nearby if you can…I know I know, he's likely higher level than you, just try. I can _assure_ you the Guild will let you know _soon_ when to bring him by. This is basically…no…this _is_ a quest from the Guild, Bell Cranell of Hestia Familia." Bell stiffened as Eina's tone during the final half of her statement shifted from _advisor_ to _Guild Employee_.

"Don't worry, we'll get all this figured out soon, I assure you. The Guild does _not_ want this being a problem in the city. So…" Eina pushed her chair back and stood, Bell quickly following suit, "It's time you went and exchanged…a bunch of magic stones. Thank you for your work Bell Cranell."

Bell nodded in response to the formal Guild acknowledgement of services performed and, grabbing his gauntlets he had taken off during the meeting, walked out, Eina close behind.

Bell sighed as he walked to his bored and expectant friends and…stranger, all of whom were looking at him expectantly. "I have no idea how to do this."

JiO-JiO

The final solution on how to translate to Seren what they needed done came in fact from Misha, ironically enough. Bell and Co. had been discussing quietly _how_ to communicate to him that they needed him to…destroy…or something…Rocky had confused them all. Bell's initial attempts to communicate via hand signals similar to what Seren had been doing confused everyone involved, including the bystanders who knew what was being said. Misha, who had for a moment found herself without a customer at the counter, finally came over with her idea.

"Why don't you just take him over to the exchange counter, and trade a stone in front of him? He doesn't seem…stupid…" Misha found herself almost unable to continue as she finally looked from Bell and Co. to Seren, where she eventually found herself looking into his grinning eyes. He was frustrated, but _damn_ if he was going to express that. As it was, things were _calm_, and that was good enough for him, even if they were confused.

Seeing shrugs all around that…sure, it might work, Misha waved at Seren to follow and they all trooped across the building to the surprisingly short line at the exchange window. With it being just past lunch, most adventurers were still in the dungeon.

No one actually _had_ to show Seren anything in fact. As Misha said, Seren was obviously intelligent and by the time the line in front had dissolved, he had seen what was happening and could guess what they were wanting. There was something about the stones that made them controlled, likely the fact that they were energized with aether in the first place, and thus valuable. Odds were that the gates in those ridiculously massive walls were also checkpoints for outgoing people to make sure random stones, such as the thousand or so currently rolling behind him, did not accidently _escape_.

The _real_ problem was how to _give_ up all those stones. Rolly was an active enneagram-copy fused in aether into an object, or in this case collection of objects. Technically, every time it "gave" or threw a stone to or at him or a monster, it was giving up part of itself. This being the first time he had worked with this pattern-device style of what was effectively a form of enchantment, Seren wasn't quite…_sure_…if Rolly would give up what was effectively its entire body.

Seren had been communicating his commands to Rolly verbally, but what was _really_ happening was it was sensing the meaning and intent in his mind via their connection to understand what was needed. Seren had shaped Rolly with his own "mental" hands, and such there was a steady, but effectively un-noticeable flow of aether in both directions. As such, the only real way to ask for what he needed was to…ask…in his mind.

As soon as Seren and Rolly and Co. had entered the line, every worker on the far side of the grate was lined up staring in shock at was, customer by customer, rolling toward them. By the time the final customer, a short prum in a massive helmet, had walked away, the staff had lined up, eyes quivering, in expectation. Before he could do anything however, an attractive elf with purple hair opened a door in the corner and beckoned for Seren and group to enter.

As they were entering, Seren could hear his companions explaining to the staff what was going on, or at least that's what he _assumed_ they were saying. He was preoccupied focusing his mind on an image that he could only hope and trust Rolly was noticing; There wasn't any kind of response it ever gave other than just _doing_ what was needed.

It wound up being a simple matter of imagining all the stones just…dropping away from Rolly. In truth, and hindsight, Seren should have thought more carefully about what he imagined.

Reason being that he opened eyes to the sight, and sound, of nearly a thousand magic stones of varying shapes and sizes suddenly falling to the ground, _flooding_ the floor and flowing around the feet of his companions and the dozen or so suit-attired…people in the room.

For some reason, it was only _now_ that Seren truly began to notice the…differences…some of the people he had encountered had. Perhaps it was because until now, everyone had kept their distance from the Little Rookie's party and their latest strange action, or maybe he simply hadn't been paying attention. In any case it was only then that he realized that at least thr…four of the women…and _all _the staff in the room appeared to be women…had tails. Cat tails, or rather three cat tails and…yea a fluffy dog tail.

Thus it was that while everyone else simply stood there in shock looking at the floor, Seren stood there in mild shock looking at the people in front of him. Considering he had almost been killed in the past for that behavior, it was a blessing in disguise.

The cat…um…girl…that appeared in charge quickly snapped out of it and beginning issuing orders and soon boxes were being filled, scales were being pushed into a central area, and notes were being taken. It was also then that Seren actually received what he could be think of as a communication from Rolly.

As he stood there, a sense of _need_ filled him as an image flooded his mind: It was the image of a purple, fruit-shaped stone, surrounded in single ring of the small, fingernail-sized stones that had come from many of the smaller, bug and bird-like monsters he had killed.

Ignoring the frustrated squawk of one of the cat girls, Seren began sifting through the pile until, with a thud, he found the gem-rock-fruit thing that had almost killed him. Grabbing it, he simply sent a feeling of acceptance towards the…thing…he was holding and…a storm.

It was a mild storm, but still a chaotic one for a moment. Rolly apparently had a good idea of exactly _which_ of the stones it needed for its "body", and out of the pile exploded roughly two-dozen small stones that quickly wrapped around the "core" like a rock-hard tire.

With a forceful look around him, Seren set the new and massively shrunk "Rolly" on the ground where it rolled to its normal position behind him. Meeting the gaze of the curious cat-girl in charge, Seren simply crossed his arms with deliberation.

'_These are mine'_

The cat girl simply looked at him, down at the floor, and back. The look she gave him was beyond obvious.

'_Like I CARE right now'_

Seren could only grin.

JiO-JiO

Hestia Familia and co. aka Seren were sitting in the chairs out in the lobby, having been kicked out when the emotional stone-counters had realized their piles were being disturbed by their guests. As it stood, Bell could hear the screams, cries, and sobs of anguish as the assessors counted, weighed, and valuated the sheer _quantity_ of stones that Seren had just delivered.

The man himself was propped against the wall next to the door on his own, seemingly asleep to the sound of distress in the other room. Welf was sitting with his feet propped up on Lilly's bag while Lilly herself sat in a seat, a mildly stunned look on her face ever since the flood of magic stones. Even in the short time they had been back there, she had seen a number of larger stones that she knew were worth fortunes individually. The ever money-wise prum had been doing math in her head ever since and it kept adding up to painfully large numbers.

Mikoto seemed to be focused inwards on something, but the subject of her thoughts was clear even to Bell as he watched her eyes occasionally flick towards the door.

In Bell's case, he was tired. Thinking about tired he _was_ suddenly made Seren's case of passing out over by the door more understandable. The man had acted bold, confident and energetic ever since they had all met; However, Bell realized that really, the man didn't look like he had actually _slept_ in a while. Being unconscious from wounds was, likely, not exactly incredibly restful and the man had practically leapt out of his deathbed, ate some food and joined them on their way out of the dungeon. Bell wasn't sure just _what_ he had been doing before they met, but he was fairly sure it hadn't been much better than how they met in the first place.

"Um…Seren meow?" Almost before the cat-girl behind the bars had finished, said stranger was up and moving towards her, the now ball-sized Rocky following behind. Curious, Bell and the others also got up to follow behind.

"Ok Sir, so this is…meow…right." The cat-girl assessor had realized at Seren's raised eyebrows that…he didn't speak Koine. "Um…well meow…Mr. Cranell."

Bell stepped up next to the taller man to look at what was on the counter: A large bag and a piece of paper. Looking at it the paper, he realized it was a receipt, a type the guild would issue when the amount of valis owed was greater than they could provide right then from wherever said receipt was being issued. He had never seen one personally, but Eina had told him about them when she first started teaching him about how the Guild and dungeon worked.

In this case, the value almost made his heart stop. He was doubly glad that Lilly was not tall enough to casually glance at it, as she was trying but failing to do.

Seren, with a focused look on his face reached out with his hand to look at the receipt and in the process, brushed his hand across the side of Bell's.

The world swam before his eyes for a moment.

_'What…just happened?'_

JiO-JiO

Seren was at a point where he realized he needed to understand more. What was _happening_ was fairly obvious. The animal-people behind the glass had just evaluated the stones that Rolly had been rolling around with and were giving him money and a receipt. After all, there was a bag full of gold coins with a piece of paper with what looked like numbers lined up on it. The problem was what to do about and with it…after all he didn't know even roughly how much he had just _gotten_.

So, he decided to steal. The words in this case, or at least the words of the numbers. Reaching out with his hand as if to grab the receipt to look at it he made sure to accidently *brush* Bell's hand in the process. As soon as he felt the contact, he poured a surge of aether through his hand into Bells, and mentally _pulled_.

Seren had used this process numerous times over the years. What he was really _doing_ was similar to what he had done with Rolly; He was pulling into _his_ mind a copy of the pattern of the flow of aether through someone _else's_ mind. This was in fact not really a problem, if the person being borrowed had any sense of what was happening that is. It was also, in order to "borrow" much knowledge at all, a _long_ process. One that due to the strain usually resulted in hurting Seren in the end. Suffice to say, Seren had gotten used to migraines thanks to this little skill. The greater problem was also that if done for too long while Seren wasn't thinking well, or to a person not fully prepared for what was happening, it could also cause pain to another.

So, Seren made this quick. All he needed was the numbers after all. So, he grabbed the receipt, and while pulling gently, moved it clearly into view of Bell's field of view. The result was immediate, and _exactly_ what he needed.

Bell was obviously stunned by what was written down and his mind was still processing the numbers he had just seen. As a result, the flow of aether quickly entered Seren's mind and the connection between certain sounds, which Seren did _not_ know, and their meanings, which he _did_ know, were established. Thanks to how the brain operates, more often than not, in people, by thinking of one number Bell thought of basically all of them as he compared the digits to larger numbers to yet larger numbers, and all that to _things_. As soon as Seren realized that Bell's mental focus had shifted away from the numbers immediately in front of him, he cut the flow. He had what he needed.

_'Just over 41 million valis…whatever a valis is.'_ The amount established, Seren looked at the cat girl and, slowly as if trying out the words after not speaking for a long time, read off the number of 41,173,400 valis.

At this, everyone around him blinked in surprise, except for Lilly who simply sagged against Bell as her knees went weak and her eyes bugged out, as he for the first time said _anything_ in Koine. The assessor, who Seren suddenly realized he didn't know the name of, nodded after a quick glance in confusion to Bell who simply shrugged.

Seren pointed at the bag and raised his eyes in question.

"One million valis." Ok, so he had actually earned just over _42_ million valis. Ok. This…was a problem. It was a problem because from the reaction of everyone around, Seren was rich, and if there was _anything_ he had learned over his years of bouncing in and out of realities is that being obviously rich, was _bad_. People noticed you at a time that you were most vulnerable and didn't _want_ to be noticed. Wealth, especially wealth announced in the presence of a room full of people doing very _bad _jobs at subtly listening in, was not good. So…to fix this…was easy.

With a smile, Seren pointed at a blank piece of paper behind the assessor who, with a shrug handed it to him as well as a pen once she figured out his intent. With this, he wrote down on it for a few moments, as an increasingly curious collection of adventurers around him watched in anticipation, before handing it back to the cat girl with, again, raised eyebrows.

It took a moment, but he could almost pinpoint the moment that the girl realized what he was indicating. Her tail twitching almost violently as she thought, she turned to Seren with a nod.

"Yes, we can do this meow." The words of course he still didn't know, but the meaning was clear, and with a motion to Bell, nodded at her.

_'Go ahead'_

JiO-JiO

The cat-girl turned back to Bell who, like the rest, was getting confused. Whatever had caused that…dizzy spell…was gone but the sudden use of Koine by Seren was almost baffling enough to bring it back. Turning around to look at his friends, hr received confused looks from everyone but Mikoto, who was staring at Seren, a suspicious look on her face. When she noticed Bell looking, she simply shook her head, as if to say not to worry about it.

Turning back to the cat-girl, he leaned in to listen as Seren stepped off to the side.

"Well meow, Mr. Seren here doesn't seem to want all the money meow. He's indicated right here meow, that he wants to keep 5 million valis plus the extra, and here said for you to have the other 37 million valis meow."

Bell staggered back, and suddenly realized it wasn't because of anything he felt, but looking down saw that Lilly had…passed out. As she had been leaning against him the last minute or so, she had simply collapsed into his arms. Wide-eyed, Bell pulled her up while Mikoto reached to grab her from him. Before she could however, Seren simply stepped forward, grabbed the front of her robe, and gave her a solid _slap_ across the face that echoed across the room. _Everyone_ who had been watching froze, eyes wide, including Hestia Familia as the prum staggered first against Bell, before with a glare, suddenly launched at Seren who simply stood there, grin on face.

Bell shook his head to clear it from _that_ suddenly random event and, as Seren backed away while holding Lilly at arm's length trying to avoid her kicks, turned back to the assessor.

"37…million valis…for us?"

"Well, technically at the moment it's for _you_ Mr. Cranell meow, since his arrow was pointed directly at you, and from his expression meow, I'm sure it's you he wanted to have it…meow."

With a wonderous look on his face, Bell simply stared at Seren who, looking mildly confused for a moment as he continued to dodge Lilly's feet, suddenly had a look of comprehension flash across his face with a smile. With a quick shove, he pushed Lilly back a step before flashing a finger in front of her face.

'_Wait a minute' _With that done, he turned back to Bell, and pointing first at him, made a sudden jumping motion that ended with him hugging himself, before stepping back again and pointing first at himself, and then giving a thumbs up. Luckily for Seren who hadn't thought about the last part, Bell knew what it meant.

'_It's for saving him, he remembers that I pushed him out of the way of the spells, so he wants me to have the rest.'_

With that done and said, Seren looked back at Lilly…and gave her a slight kick to the knee…which immediately prompted a slight growl followed by a resurgence of her attacks on his leg.

By this point, everyone had a grin at the man, and prum's, strange antics and refocused on Bell and the teller.

"Well, I guess I'll take it. Can we apply it to Hestia Familia?" Bell inquired, the familia's finances foremost in his mind.

"Of course meow, do you want one million valis meow like Mr. Seren there meow?"

Bell didn't even have to think.

"_Yes."_

JiO-JiO

"I have confirmed the Stranger."

Fels had unveiled himself to Ouranos once more, as usual eliciting no surprise from God that always simply seemed to _know_ what was around him, or at least present in the shadowed throne room.

"…I have confirmed the rumors from below. The stranger is indeed with Bell Cranell and his familia. As well, it seems the man does indeed seem to…lack the knowledge of Koine…mostly."

"…mostly." This at least seemed to garner the focus of stooped God on his throne, though not quite in the manner Fels had expected. "Tell me, did he _learn_ anything as you watched?"

"…yes." The never-ending game between Fels and Ouranos continued as each tested their mental prowess against one another. While not a deusdea such as Ouranos, Fels had lived, or existed that is, for a very long time. He _knew_ how to verbally spar. This time however, Ouranos seems to have access to knowledge that Fels lacked. Considering the cloaked being had been one of said deity's trusted allies for centuries, this knowledge was something of a surprise.

"…is it possible he is-"  
"No." The one word echoed through the chamber with its finality, surprising once again the cloaked being. "I have a suspicion. The likelihood is…low…but possible. If he is…what…he might be…"

Ouranos settled into silence for several moments, possibilities and contemplations almost visible behind his dark eyes, before looking up with determination on his wizened face.

"Send Royman to me."

JiO-JiO

By the time the Hestia Familia had left the Guild hall, the sun was beginning to fall from the sky. The sinking star shining in his face as he followed the others reminding Seren of older times, of other suns, other cities. The walls surrounding the city were phenomenally huge. In truth, he had never actually _seen_ such walls before; Certainly, none surrounding a city. At first, Seren wondered as to the survival-climate that such a place needed such incredible defenses before the real reason for the walls registered.

The walls were not as incredibly tall and likely as thick as they must be to keep invaders _out_. After all, who truly tries to invade a _dungeon_. No, it was more to keep something _in_, specifically the somethings that might come flooding out of the dungeon were the other, equally massive prevention systems he had seen earlier, to fail.

'_Someone spent a lot of time and effort to build this place. They must have had a reason, meaning this _dungeon_ must have once been something far more dangerous than a place to gather magical items'_

Those thoughts, however, could be put away for the time being; It seemed they had arrived…here. Exactly _where_ or _what_ this seemingly random building just to the side of the road was for was escaping his ken for the moment, but that it was their destination was made obvious not only as the group turned towards the entrance into the rather…rundown…building, but for the fact that Bell was suddenly…taken out…by a white and blue missile.

Well, a missile was the best impression he _had_ at first, the high-pitched whine reminded him of a mis-aligned repulsorcart Naya had once been trying to fix, and whatever it…_no!...she!_...was doing was causing a high-pitched _-squeee-_ sound that almost hurt his ears.

Whoever the short, black-haired…person was…she had just full-on tackled Bell. To his credit, the boy didn't _actually_ fall over…he simply wound up wobbling around with an embarrassed grin on his face as the rest of the crew walked inside, bemused expressions all around, except for the short girl Lilly. _She_ had an expression that made Seren think that it might be wise to hide any sharp items for a while. Bell seemed to be occupied trying to extract himself from the…_well_ endowed female so Seren followed the rest inside.

It was a pharmacy. That was the only word that made any sense to use to the place. Displays of vials of colored liquid abounded, in addition to the packs and baggies of powders and color-coded bandages stacked and in ready-to-go boxes and bags. The building seemed old, but the interior had the sense of a well-loved home. Even as he stood there, Seren could sense a lightening of his stress, as though his soul had suddenly been freed of a burden he hadn't realized was there.

Seren instantly recognized the feeling; This was a place where someone _cared_, truly and deeply, about people. _Who_ that was…was rather obvious. The young purple-eyed woman with…yep…dog ears -'_don't look for a tail, don't look for a tail!'- _was staring at Seren suspiciously so it _wasn't_ her which meant…him.

This was the first person Seren had actually met yet that was actually a similar height to him. Tall and lanky, this man with dark blue hair and eyes to match Seren's was smiling serenely at him. The look on his face was a surprising counter-point to the look on what he assumed was his assistant or employee's. Seren honestly couldn't _help_ but smile back, very aware that his various combative defenses were lowering in this man's presence.

'_Either he is as kind and honest as he seems, or he is absurdly dangerous._'

In any case, he reached out to grasp the hand this man was proffering.

The _scream_ of aether nearly took Seren to his knees, his eyes going absolutely wide with shock as he froze in place, no longer seeing the now concerned face in front of him as he dove into the current of aether seething through his palm.

This was no ordinary being. And it made so many things make sense. While walking through the street with the others, Seren had been naturally reaching out with his senses, testing the areas around him almost as if tasting the mental magics of the area. There had been numerous points of "bright" energy in his mind, which he had finally concluded coincided with the many magic-stone powered devices he saw through windows and hanging from poles. He could only assume that somehow the stones could be activated, much as he did with aether, in a less _destructive_ manner that permitted them to be used as power sources. But that hadn't been the interesting part.

No, the interesting part was how so many people seemed to _shimmer_ with a slight haze of aether, and in other cases, a soft fog of power, whispering a quiet song to his mind, surrounded them. It wasn't until he was walking around and witnessing people who _weren't _expressing the quiet…haze…of power that he realized just how many _were_, including his companions. Those shimmers were similar to the fogs he had noticed, a fog that he again just now realized this _man_ had. And it matched the shimmer of the girl to his right almost perfectly. They were _connected_ somehow.

Similar in fact…Seren turned back to the door as released this unique man's hand as Bell followed the big-breasted girl in, a curious and suspicious look on _her_ face as she looked back at Seren. That wasn't the part that had him truly _focusing_ on her however; She too had a fog of aether surrounding her that matched the shimmer Bell and the others possessed. Like the girl to the blue-haired man, this short…being…was also connected to his companions.

_'This is getting more interesting by the moment. Are these kids slaves? Is it symbiotic or parasitic? What _are_ these other people? …They aren't human that's for sure.'_

Before anyone could really say anything about the unusual behavior of their guest, Bell, socially inobservant as ever, started talking.

JiO-JiO

"-And now we're here. Ms. Eina said we were supposed to keep an eye on Mr. Seren for now so…we brought him with us. I…none of us are too sure what to do." Bell was finishing up his report from the last couple days, everyone else interjecting when he missed something he hadn't thought of. "And so…um…Goddess…this is Seren…ahh…I don't really know the rest of his name actually."

The man being discussed was sitting in the corner, feet crossed next to where the discus-sized Rocky, as Bell had called it, was resting next to his armored-boots. He was simply gazing about him with a patient expression as everyone, very obviously, discussed the events from earlier and of course…him as well. While apparently not knowing what they were saying, it was obvious that he knew he was at least part of the focus and seemed content with being the topic of discussion.

Goddess Hestia however had stuck on something Bell had mentioned only a minute or two before winding down. "So, before the guild…he didn't know any Koine…but when you got to the Guild…he could count?"

Surprisingly, it was the usually quiet Mikoto who interrupted Bell before he could speak.

"I…I think he learned it…from Master Bell…" The eastern girl quietly interjected, gaze flicking to, but away from Seren in the corner.

At that, every head in the room turned, almost simultaneously, to look curiously at the friendly stranger. Even with the 7 pairs of eyes staring at him, he continued to simply sit there, as relaxed as can be while calmly gazing around. After a moment, with a gentle smile he finally managed to catch Mikoto's eye.

Seren simply nodded.

'_It's ok. Go on._' Seren was neither stupid nor unobservant. He _couldn't_ be considering what he _did_ for a life. Even with these seemingly friendly youth he had been on guard, his senses constantly searching and scanning. Mikoto's observation of his little grab at Bell's hand, followed by his suddenly being able to read and speak the numbers, had not escaped him. He had a good idea what she was referencing just then that garnered him the sudden and absolute attention of the room.

Seeing that smile that seemed to somehow grant permission, though how she still couldn't comprehend, Mikoto continued. "He didn't seem to understand what he was looking at at first…I mean it was obvious he knew they were numbers, but I don't think he knew what they said. Then…he made it _look_ like he had accidently touched Master Bell's hand on the counter…and…suddenly he could. Master Bell looked like he was going to…fall over for a second when he did that."

At that, Bell suddenly became the sudden focus of everyone in the room…followed after a moment by an amused Seren. Yea, he knew what the topic was.

"Oh…now that you mention it…I did get kind of…dizzy…for a second there…but I was fine!"

Lilly and Hestia both stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed in suspicion as though they could see the truth behind his words. In Hestia's case at least, that was true. Lilly though was still making a good effort at it.

_-Smack!-_ Everyone jumped as Seren made a sudden, sharp clap as he sat forward. Looking back and forth between Miach and Hestia, his eyes narrowed as though trying to decide something. Nazza instinctively drew close to her God as Bell in turn suddenly straightened at the very obvious focus Seren was paying his Goddess. Everyone else simply looked back and forth between the three while he obviously weighed a decision of some sort.

Finally, Seren seemed to come to a decision and, with a nod to himself, turned to face Goddess Hestia, hopping his chair forward a few bounces so he was almost inside the circle of chairs his audience was making. With a gentle smile, he simply held out his hands, palms out, towards Hestia and waited.

"Well…and here I thought he was only touchy-feely with Lilly." Everyone other than Seren and Miach turned to glare at Welf after his remark. Seren simply grinned sideways at the red-haired man; Sarcasm was an art that needed no language to be truly appreciated. Bell of course had gone mildly red as Lilly leaned past him to glare intensely at the smirking smith.

"Sarcasm aside, I believe Mr. Welf is correct." Everyone again swiveled their heads, this time to look at Lord Miach, who was sitting serenely next to Naaza behind the counter. "I do believe he simply wants Hestia to touch his hands with hers for some reason."

Finally, everyone turned to look at Hestia.

"Hrummph…I don't see what the big deal is." With that being said, she also scooted her chair forward, until she was sitting directly in front of the ever-patient man. "They're just hands after all"

With that, she reached out to press her palms to his.

Hestia waited, everyone waited, no one moved.

'_Hrrmm…this _is_ a strange custom…I wonder what he's doing…'_ Hestia thought to herself as she looked into the laughing eyes before her.

'_I'm sorry…I suppose I could have actually introduced myself by now…would that help?'_

Hestia's eye widened as a voice echoed inside her head…he had just _spoken_ to her through her mind!

'_Yep…it's a useful skill…'_

Hestia simply stared in shock at the man in front of her…he was _talking_ to her…through her mind…

'_Um…yea…this is going to take a while at this rate…'_


	6. From Cinder Dreams

All DanMachi and Starwars content is owned either by NA Yen Press or Walt Disney Studios respectively.

Chapter 6: From Cinder Dreams

'_Um…yea…this is going to take a while at this rate…'_

The Deusdea, or Deity, known as Hestia simply _stared_ at the man before her. The laughing eyes and grin had smoothed out across his face into a serene, focused expression that more than anything else snapped Hestia out of her shock. It was either that, or she had simply finally recognized the sarcastic tone that accompanied the words into her head.

'_So this isn't how I normally do this actually, learning a language that is. There's something unique about you and your friend though, and others I've seen, that lets me do this however. It's as if something akin to aether is flowing through you, contained or bottled up inside. All I'm doing is bouncing aether…that's magic to you I think…off you and you're getting the echo in your mind. Your thoughts are making the same echoes back at me…and thus this.'_

_ 'If…you don't do this normally…what _do_ you do?'_

_ 'I steal.'_ Hestia let out a gasp at that, garnering sudden worried looks from around the room.

'_It's not that bad actually. It's been way too common for me to wind up stepping into a world where someone tries to kill me right off the bat, or soon after. I _usually_ use that person to just kind of…copy…everything at once. It hurts us both like hell…but it works. If things are going well though, I usually find a priest or someone familiar with meditation and it's more of an absorbing thing. It takes longer, but much gentler on the other soul helping out.'_

_ '…and you?'_

_ 'Oh, it still hurts like hell. For all the thoughts that are different and similar between us, sentient minds still tend to organize themselves the same way. All that is different are the sounds you then relate to all those thoughts. I'm basically listening to the echoes of your…mental voice I suppose…as you think, comparing it to the underlying thought and then attaching it to the same thought in my mind. Eventually I'll have to start losing languages I'm sure, but I'm doing ok for now...I think. The issue though is it's mentally intensive, like a program in the aether working in my mind and after a while the brain just doesn't like it anymore. I'll probably start bleeding at some point…but ignore that. With you though, this is _so_ much easier than usual so we might be good.'_

_ 'So…what do you need from me?'_

_ 'Talk. Just talk. Tell me stories, history, jokes, describe art and imagine machines you know. Talk about your feelings and hopes and losses and everything in between. If you run down, I'll say something to keep you going on stuff I'm missing. Fair warning…this is going to take a while.'_

_ 'Oh…well…I'm Hestia…and I'm a Goddess…'_

_ 'A Goddess?'_

'_Talking! As I was saying, I'm the Goddess of the Hearth and this is…'_

And so it was that Seren sat and for the first time that he knew of, listened to a Goddess talk about coming down from the heavens. The only reasonable thought he could have in response ricocheted in the back of his mind: '_Now I've heard it all.'_

'_Hey! I heard that!'_

Whoops.

JiO-JiO

"Two Pair"

"Damnit!" Welf tossed down his cards to the floor in frustration. That was _four_ hands in a row Lilly had won. "If I didn't know better, you had extra cards on you…but you don't have any _pockets_. Bah!"

Considering Lilly's standard of dress, her barely-too-small shorts and hooded skin-tight red and white shirt that came down to her sternum, it was understandable to be curious about where any extra cards might be coming from. She barely had clothes let alone _pockets._

"It's not Lilly's fault that she always had to watch adventurers playing cards. Lilly actually _learned_ something useful." And useful it was indeed; Bell and Mikoto initially found themselves folding within minutes and both finally quit to watch Welf stubbornly stick out the game…and lose.

Said smith was still shaking his head in dismay and suspicion. There was _lucky_ and there was…well. As he sat back, he looked over at Hestia and Seren, still sitting on the chairs holding hands together between them. It had been nearly three _hours_ since they had started, and they had no idea how much longer this was going to take.

"Well, hopefully Seren's going to be ok. That nose-bleed can't be anything good after this long." A little over an hour before, it had been Naaza that, while cleaning the store yet again, had noticed blood dripping down his face. They had been _about_ to grab at him when Lord Miach had simply shook his head and placed a rag on his lap.

"He has the look of someone truly focusing. I do not believe he would appreciate the interruption." The God commented before returning his focus to his mixings in the back.

That rag had been replaced twice now, the others soaked through in crimson.

"What do you think they're…doing?" Lilly had pulled her legs to her chest as she looked at their mentally conversing Goddess and companion. "They've been sitting there for so long, and her face…it's like she's going through every emotion in the _book_."

Hestia had indeed been incredibly expressive the entire time, her face shifting from curiosity, to excitement, joy, sadness…at one point it had looked like she was about to burst into tears. Seren however, had maintained a calm, inquisitive expression for almost the entire time. Occasionally, humor flickered across his face in reaction to Hestia's overly ecstatic expressions before returning to his normal, focused face.

"It looks like Goddess Hestia is talking in her head. I guess Mr. Seren is able to hear her somehow." Mikoto had been sewing on a tear at the base of her battle-robe while the others had played and waited. "Perhaps he is able to understand the words of the mind better than the-_OW!_"

The floor shook as Seren, chair and all, suddenly just crumpled over to the side. Mikoto, who had been pressing the needle through a final knot, jumped in surprise, stabbing herself in the process.

No one moved for a moment as Seren simply curled into a ball, holding his head tightly between his hands, moaning in apparent agony. Hestia, who simply blinked for a moment, seemingly surprised at where she was, looked down at the quasi-twitching man now at her feet.

"Oh dear…that doesn't look like fun…"

"Please…stop…yelling…oooww…"

Hestia simply giggled in response.

JiO-JiO

"Oowww…ow…be quiet be quiet…be quieter…ow…"

Seren was sitting at the large table in the back room of the Blue Pharmacy with his head resting in his arms, a cool cloth resting on his head while he waited for the vial of medicine Lord Miach had just given him to take effect. The members of both familias were either situated around the table or in chairs they had pulled up as they waited for Seren to stop complaining about the bright lights in the already _dim_ room.

Lilly, who had sat next to nearly insensate Jedi Traveler, had taken to poking randomly at his head and murmuring, if one could murmur loudly, about how much pain he appeared to be in.

"-I mean, I don't think Master _BELL_ was hurt this bad with the _minotaur!" _

_ -groan-_

"Even when the black goliath _threw him_? He got up _much quicker_ than this!"

"…you…have a…ugh…surprisingly masochistic streak to you…_oh ow_…Lilly…"

Everyone frowned at this, and Lord Miach, after glancing at Hestia somewhat confusedly, felt he had to remark, "Don't you mean…a sad-"

"_NO…_I most certainly do _not_ mean _anything_ else…ow…"

Lord Miach's eyes crossed for a moment in confusion before widening in comprehension. "Oh!...I ah…see…Lilly…you might want to leave Mr. Seren be for now…?"

"Ugh…Surat…"

"Bless you…" Mikoto uttered before going silent when one of Seren's now bloodshot eyes peered out at her from under an arm.

"Surat…it's my name…ow…" Finally, he sat up gently, keeping his eyes only slightly open while trying not to move his head too quickly. "Ok…we're…getting better here…" he uttered as he closed his eyes tightly one more time.

"Anyhow, my name is Seren Nas' Surat…or Seren Surat…or…well it could also get really long too…eh?"

"Indeed," Lord Miach smiled at the increasingly confused looking Seren with a soft smile, the medicine should kick in right…about…

"_oohhhhhhh_…" Seren suddenly just limply _slid_ down in his seat, a stunned yet delighted smile erupting on his face. "This…is _good _stuff…"

"I am glad you like it." Naaza merely sniffed disdainfully at this as Seren simply _beamed_ at nothing in particular.

"Ok…focus…yes…I can do that." Seren muttered to himself for a moment as his audience looked on rather amused. Except for Lilly, _she_ was staring at the Traveler in suspicion after the masochism comment. "I suppose I should start story time now. I mentioned some stuff to the Goddess, but she blathered enough that I never really needed to respond."

Hestia simply could not contain herself. "Blathered? I am a _Goddess!_ I don't…_blather!_"

"Oh? You most certainly did! You blathered…prattled...twittered, jabbered, chattered, rambled, and _gabbled _on! Do you know how I _know you did?" _Seren exclaimed. "Because I just _said. All. Those. Words!_ I didn't even know a language could _have_ that many words for excessive talking, but apparently yours does, and you _must_ have…_blathered_…because you must have _mentioned_ those words…else I wouldn't _KNOW _them in the first place!"

Seren could only finish his little tirade with a glare at the now…moderately…blushing Goddess who had sat back with a huff about halfway through. No one bothered to correct Seren on anything he had just said because…well. Bell in particular simply looked anywhere _but_ at his Goddess.

"And all _that_ explains why my head feels like a speeder ran over it, backed up, and then _landed on it! Twice!_"

This time, everyone just stared at Seren in confusion, who blinked for a moment confused in turn.

"Oh…actually…yea I don't think that word exists here…so that one doesn't count."

Lilly was the first to snap out of the confused daze the seemingly non-sensical sentence had just caused in everyone. "Well, now Mr. Seren can tell us _all about himself_." She said with a glare first at Seren and then at Bell; Both of whom simply stared back at her in confusion while the rest of the room simply…sighed in resignation.

"Right, yes, story time! Ok right…everyone settled in?" Seren clapped his hands before wincing in response. When he refocused and looked around at everyone they simply…looked back. "Ah…yea…everyone's good." With that, he sat back in his high-backed chair for a moment while thinking, before giving himself a nod.

"Ok, simply put…I'm a Traveler, and no, that doesn't mean anything to you yet." Seren added before Lilly or Bell could open their mouths any further.

"The best way to describe this is…imagine if you will…the dungeon floors. Each is similar to the ones nearest for the most part…but also slightly different, yes?"

Nods.

"Ok, now imagine that instead of dungeon floors…you had worlds…like this one…Gekai…right?"

A pause…and then some slower nodding.

"Ok! Great we're doing wonderful here. Ok…now…you have all these worlds…similar to each other…with similar people…but also at the same time…different…in clumps and groups. Kind of like the dungeon again in fact. And all these…world-floors…are connected by 'Gates'…again like the stairs between levels." Seren finished with the air quotes, with everyone now looking at each other in growing confusion.

"Ok this is awesome, mild confusion, a touch of disbelief, moving along as usual." Seren leaned forward, fingers intertwining, as he began to get into his usual "who and what I am" spiel.

"So, you then have, spread out through _all_ these worlds, some which are similar, and some of which are very different, a tiny population of people who are able to actually _use_ said gates; assuming they even know about them in the first place of course. _These _people who 'transit' or 'walk' what we call the 'Ways'…are called Travelers…which I happen to be."

The adventurers all looked at the deities in the room at this, both of whom simply shrugged their shoulders at the silent mass-inquiry.

"So…you're not…from _this_ world then?" Hestia couldn't help but ask, her eyes wide in shock, "_Or_ from Tankei?" Seren simply shook his head. "So…where _did_ you come from?"

"A Gate!" Seren spread his arms with a grin, before a 100-valis coin _whack-_ed him in the temple.

"_Damnit…_what the hell…?" _Now_ everyone was staring at Lilly in confusion and shock.

"Mr. Seren is being _obtuse_ to Goddess Hestia!"

Again, it was Mikoto who spoke up. "But…you don't even _like_ Godd-"

"It doesn't matter! She's _our_ Goddess! …Respect!"

Everyone just shook their head…again…at this, especially Seren who was still rubbing the small but growing lump on his temple.

"Damnit…and there's the headache again…ow…but…that was actually me being honest." Seren glared at Lilly as she calmly pulled another coin out of the overly large pack she had been carrying since the Guild Hall.

He hurriedly continued.

"So, if I counted right, the gate I came through was on the…um…sixty third or so floor of the dung-" The gasps and now even wider-eyed stares all around stopped him mid-syllable. Bell especially was beginning to look like someone had slugged and drugged him, his eyes both wider and redder than before.

"_No one _has been down that low!" Bell practically _wailed_, "Loki familia just went down to the fifty _ninth_ floor…and they apparently almost all _died_!"

Seren could only shrug, "I didn't exactly stick around to _explore_ you know. I was up and running as soon as I came through. I ran…basically the whole way up. I took a couple breaks in places that seemed safe or were hidden, like the level where I got Rolly's fruit-rock for example." The Hestia and Miach familia adventurers all blinked at the reference to the rolling rock that had been sitting beside Seren's chair.

"But…I thought it was Rocky…"

"Ms. Eina…mentioned Crunchy…"

Lilly and Bell both looked nearly crushed at hearing Rolly's _actual_ name was different than what they had started thinking of it as-

"It…does…roll…" Mikoto of course was considerably more logical in her approach. Welf could only nod with her.

"Anyhow! I made Rolly ten or so levels up from where I came in, think of it like a magical machine I guess, and that's where we both came from. I didn't even _try_ to go down, so I have no idea how many more levels there are to it. The gate was simply…there." Seren finished with a shrug.

"But…where did you _come_ from?" Naaza this time was the one who couldn't help but asking again the burning question that Seren didn't seem to be actually answering.

"Oh…um…well where I came from right _before_ here was…well it was a place in the middle of a…major…civil war." Seren's normally carefree expression shifted to a much more stoic look so fast that everyone around him had to blink at the change. "I had been something of a peacekeeper there, it's where I got this."

Seren motioned to his lightsaber hanging next to his chair. "However, our side of the war was betrayed, and most of the…people…I had been working with died. Quickly. Ultimately, I decided that there wasn't much left for me there and I left."

This time, Seren's tone prevented any more attempts at clarifying the _where_ of the question. That line of discussion had come to a solid, and emphatic, halt.

Hestia finally spoke up, looking at Seren with a more intense expression than before. "I feel that…you are not telling us everything."

"HA! Of _course_ I'm not!" Cue the blinking all around. "It would literally take me _weeks_ of talking straight through to actually tell you about all the places I've been, things I've seen and…done." Seren rapped his knuckles on the table in front of him in frustration, bouncing them as he spoke. "To even describe to you how the governments worked, or what the Jedi were like, they were the peacekeepers I mentioned by the way, or even how the Republic actually _existed_…physically…would take longer than the hours of daylight we have left. Plus…plus…"

A pause as everyone stared at the suddenly…deflating man in front of them.

"Plus…it simply wouldn't matter. It's all over…done." Seren paused for a moment before continuing.

"Some Travelers…they flit about-"

"grrr….philanderers…"

"_FLIT _Lilly _FLIT_…not _flirt…"_

"…oh."

"A_nyhow…_they travel a lot. Never stopping for long, they just go. See new places, do new things…keep moving for as long as they can go and be before restarting."

"But not you." Lord Miach's expression had turned solemn as he gazed at the half-slumped over man at his table. Naaza was glancing between the two in mild consternation.

"No…not me. My friends…brothers in way really…none of us really do that. For us it's…" Seren waved vaguely in the air, grasping at a word or idea, "…for us it's about finding _home_ if you know what I mean, or at least just finding a place that…matters…I guess. Me…" With that word, Seren let out a deep, long breath almost as if deflating before their eyes.

"…it never seems to go right for me. At least not for long, or for good anyhow." His eyes flicked back up to Hestia whose gaze had since turned solemn and almost…serene…as she listened. "So no, I'm not telling you everything. There's a whole lot of stuff that honestly, neither you nor anyone else really _wants_ to know. All you _need_ to know…is that I'm here now, and not there."

The finality in his tone seemed to silence everything, everyone's expressions ranging from concerned to introspective as Seren finished with a broad wave of his hand. Welf, with a rather sympathetic look on his face, opened his mouth to speak-

"Miach, could Seren and I have the room for a moment?" Everyone's gaze snapped to Hestia, except for Seren's who simply continued to gaze at her steadily.

Miach never even answered, but instead simply gave a small bow before making a gentle _shoo_-ing motion with his hands to the crowd seated on the floor, chairs and couch. No one even said anything, though Lilly looked as though she wanted to speak up before Welf gave her a shake of the head as they all exited through the curtains to the front store.

Alone for the first time, the two simply sat there, in silence.

Neither moved, for some time in fact.

"Are you a danger?" Hestia.

Seren thought for a moment before, "For certain. To whom though…that depends on who's who and what's…what."

Hestia nodded before falling back to her silent contemplation.

"You impressed my Bell."

"I suspect he can be easy to impress."

"Yes…and no. It depends."

More Silence.

"What do you intend to do now?" Hestia's previously child-esque demeanor had vanished, the eyes of something and someone considerably older was looking at him now.

"Live." Silence for a moment, "I can't leave this world right now even if I wanted to. I came through the Gate in a hurry; I'm rather surprised I survived the transit in the first place all truth be told. It'll be weeks at the least until the gate settles, months or years more likely, and I'm not interested in going back _down_ through sixty some-odd levels of that…dungeon just to wait and see. So…I just want to live for now. No big plans or anything, not yet." Seren looked up from where his gaze had dropped to his hands in his lap, "Frankly, I'm tired. Physically for sure, but emotionally and mentally as well. I'm a bit out of…sorts…at the moment."

Hestia simply nodded; her gaze having gone distant while Seren spoke. Finally…

"Do you know what I am the goddess _of_ Seren?" A head shake was his response.

"I am the Virgin Goddess of the Hearth, I looked over the home, the flame, the family, the place that protects those that are weary when I was in Tenkai." Seren nodded as he followed along with his eyes. "I only recently came down to Gekai, and I suppose that I'm still used to my old job up above…or perhaps it is simply more to me than a job down here. Ultimately…" a pause, "…You are a very lonely person I think. You hide it well, very well in fact. Watching you with Lilly for example, one could almost think you the slightly lecherous, overly playful, altogether too confident man you present yourself as…But."

"But." A statement, not a question. Hestia nodded in response.

"But. Perhaps it is as you say, you are simply tired. Reasonable, considering what you have endured these last several days. But also…perhaps it is more as well. Nonetheless, you require a flame by which to rest." Hestia's gaze was no longer distant but staring directly into Seren's own eyes that met hers equally. "I will understand it if such is not what you want now, but know that if you decide that indeed, you need such…this familia will be here if you wish to join it."

"I take it membership is not exactly a group-consent activity." A slight smile from Seren here.

"It can be, but not always. You are old…older than you look I can see. Bell and the rest…they would not have the perspective needed in this case. My decision, and offer, remains."

Seren leaned his face against his steepled fingers, mind deep in thought. The offer was valid, tempting even since quite frankly, the almost-childish looking goddess, '_except for those damn breasts of hers!', _was quite right that he was tired. Too much war for too long with too much death of too many good people there at the end.

'_But…_'

But. There was always a but somewhere.

"If you don't mind, I will…hold on…to your offer for now." Seren nodded to himself as he spoke his decision. "I have made jump-decisions before. They have often tended to the good, but at times to the bad as well. Your familia…doen't need the consequences that would come if it would be one of the latter. Plus…" he focused back on the Goddess before him.

"Plus, correct me I am wrong, but once other familias are aware of me, I will have other offers."

Hestia said nothing, simply nodding as she held her hands in her lap, eyes fixated on Seren's.

"As such…I don't think it would be wise to leap at the first offer I get. I'll look around, meet some people, _understand_ this place a bit before I decide anything…permanent. You deserve that, your…children…deserve that. I deserve that."

Hestia nodded as Seren came to a close on his thoughts. Ultimately, she wasn't _that_ surprised at the response, though it certainly wasn't what she was _hoping_ for. Unlike literally everyone currently in her familia, the man before her had the look of someone that thought hard_, _though also likely fast as well. Like any child of Gekai, though he might not be one, this man would certainly be able to make instinctive, and reactive, decisions. However, it was obvious to the Goddess-come-down that he had experience at the consequences, both good and bad, of such snap-decisions. The best she could do was to be the one to make the first, and most honest, offer.

Even a Goddess had to hope at times.

"Then all that is left, is for me to truly say…thank you. No matter the _how_ or _why_ of your first encounters, you have already brought an interesting flavor to those children in the other room, even in the very short time they have known you. All the more reason for my offer, in fact. So now then…" Hestia continued as she energetically _bounced_ out of her seat, causing Seren's eyes to climb, "Let me be the first to say _Welcome to Gekai!_ Trust me…having just arrived myself…it's a trip! Just…don't get kicked out by some Goddess and stuffed in a church…"

Seren blinked as he stood and followed the diminutive goddess out of the room to the others. That…was oddly specific.

JiO-JiO

The sun was setting, the western wall casting a long shadow across the inner circle that was Orario. The tower, Babel now that he knew the name, was still glowing like a beacon in the sky as the shadow of the wall climbed upwards, the decorations and designs that covered its exterior giving it a wavering, crawling look when viewed from afar.

"I appreciate the guidance." Bell nodded at Seren's words as they walked sideways down the street that was the western "spoke" of the wheel of Orario.

"Welf and Lilly are still settling things with their old familias. Lilly in particular was wanting to find out how much those seeds we gathered will sell for too. So…I thought it would be good to show you a good place to get some food. I'm sure you'll find a place to stay from there, especially with Rocky and that bag Mr. Seren."

For some reason, no one else seemed to like Seren's name for his rolling collection of zombified magic stones, and so even by the time he had left with _Rolly_ in a satchel Lord Miach had given him (accompanied by the sound of Nazza growling in the background for some reason), Seren had found himself on the defense regarding his not-so-alive pet's name. His priority when he gave his goodbyes for now had been simple as usual: Food and sleep. Seren was finding himself once more running on fumes and food and sleep sounded like a good end to the day.

To his surprise, Bell had come racing out after him with an offer of directions.

"Mama Mia makes some wonderful food, it's a bit pricey…but worth it I think. Especially the special! Just…watch out for Anya…she keeps trying add in this red pepper…ugh…" Seren grinned as Bell closed his eyes and shook his head at some memory. "But oh yea…oh we're here alre-"

"_BeeellllllLLLll!"_ Seren could only grab at his head and close his eyes to ward off the flash of pain that accompanied the high pitch yell. Lord Miach's medicine was good, but not a miracle. When he was able to open them again, it was to find Bell being frantically patted down by a grey-haired girl in a green dress. The expression on the boy's face was…

"Miss Syr! I'm _fine_…really I a- ow ow ow no don't _poke me_ _there_!" The girl…Syr had apparently quickly shifted from patting to making sharp jabs at various points on Bell's body.

"So then what caused all _this_?" Syr was still making jabbing motions at Bell, who had taken to grabbing at her fingers to stop her from jabbing at the bruises that the boy had apparently gained over the last few days. The end result was him holding her hands as she practically hit him with his own. Seren…couldn't help but grin.

'_This is something _special_ right here…'_

"I believe Mr. Cranell has a guest Syr."

The nearly perfectly monotone comment brought all three pairs of eyes around…Seren and Bell's to the green-haired elf standing in the door, Syr's suddenly calculating gaze to Seren.

"Miss Ryu! And Syr…this is Mr. Seren. We…met…in the dungeon yesterday. He got hurt below floor 18 and we kinda showed him the way out the of the dungeon." Bell made the introductions as he continued trying to escape Syr's grasp, eventually indicating the indviduals with his head and elbows.

The elf standing in the door was backlit from the tavern within, but Seren could still see her eyes narrow at Bell's wording. Syr…

"Oh another friend! Bell is always collecting friends it seems! I'm Syr and this is Ryu. Welcome to the Hostess of Fertility!" At this, the girl that was evoking images of so many women he had known in the past gave a quick, and cute, curtsy. Ryu…simply gave an almost monosyllabic "Hello".

"Well friend is the right word, Bell here's a regular Hero actually. He saved my life in the dungeon and THEN he takes me to both food and beautiful women! I'm finding my debt is just getting deeper and deeper around him." Seren's words had the effect of turning the pale-faced boy's face increasingly redder. Syr had grabbed Bell's hands in turn during their little poke struggle and they were now standing out front effectively holding hands. Syr's grin managed to come across as cute and innocent while Bell was looking increasingly panicked as he, unsuccessfully, twisted his hands in Syr's grip.

"A hero…!" In hindsight…Syr's innocent grin also managed to come across as somewhat evil as well.

"Aagghhh! Mr. Seren is just looking for food and a place to stay! I just thought this was a good place to start!" Bell was practically wailing as his efforts at hand-extraction continued. Syr wasn't paying his words any attention meanwhile…

"I believe we can help with that Mr. Seren." Seren sighed and gave a slight bow to the elf that had turned to lead him in, leaving Bell and the grinning girl to continue their struggle with their hands on the street.

"Syyyyrrr!"

"By the way…could you point out an…Anya to me?"  
The elven waitress didn't even pause at the question.  
" "Ah yes…the pepper…"

Bell had apparently been serious.

JiO-JiO

Seren had never had…ant…for dinner.

Now he had had _fried_ _ants_ before…they were a delicacy in many places and worlds after all. When masses of protein are walking around just waiting to be tossed into a frying pan full of spices…a meal's going to happen at some point! Those had always been ants no larger than a couple grains of rice however…not the size of a hover ball.

Chitin was surprisingly tasty. Either that, or what ever the chef had filled the skull with.

'_please don't be brain please don't be brain please don't be brain!'_

In the end, the first half of the special was devoured in near-record time, at least if the expression of the matron of the establishment were any indication. At some point while he had been sawing through a mandible with the knife, a large bowl of pasta had arrived, which was now being steadily slurped up by the once again starving Traveler. Contrary to Bell's suggestion and Ryu the Elf's suspicious looks, Seren had waved down the brown-haired cat-girl Anya and asked for a sample of the red powder riding surreptitiously in her apron. A taste later, and a three-shake of the jar had happily livened up the meal.

'_If I can keep up with a twi'lek girl, I can eat this!' _Twi'leks, the entire civilization on Ryloth in fact, was almost as famous for their flavorful, and spicy, meals as they were for their physique. Seren had always considered himself a connoisseur of things new, so this red powder was no obstacle.

"So! You're one of Syr's friends. They're normally a bit smaller than you though…" Mama Mia's powerful frame was leaning against the inner corner of the bar across from where Seren had been seated. The view from his almost-corner spot showed the fairly full establishment in its rather random glory. Nearly all the seats of the pub were full, usually by groups of some sort. In the center, several tables had been pushed together where a fairly large, but surprisingly quiet for the locale, group sat eating and drinking. The attitude of the fifteen or so adventurers seemed to dampen the atmosphere somewhat, with eyes constantly flicking in their direction.

"-ut I haven't found any reason to question her friends yet. Bell was the latest, and he's been proving to be a good kid." Seren simply nodded along to the matron's assessment while still slurping away at the noodles. How long were these things anyhow? "You know anything about that hubbub these bozo's were talking about the other day?" 

"mmrghffmmrng…errfgndmndughumpf." Seren was slurping through his increasingly sore cheeks, his fork in one hand holding the noodles out away from him while he stared into the bowl as he tried to find the end of the noodle clump he was steadily swallowing.

"Well at least you guys came out okay. I told that kid to take it steady, but he keeps getting himself into trouble of one sort or another. Every time he doesn't come back to grab another of Syr's meals, she damn near paces a hole in the floor. Speaking of…Ryu said you were looking for a place to stay."

"mrmhmmnggmffghmrggmmmf." Seren tried to speak past the meatball that had somehow traveled up the noodle clump he was still barely able to continue slurping up. His fork now was holding the noodle strands as he desperately sawed away with the knife that had apparently gone dull somewhere between the ant-head and the pasta. Somehow the bowl in front of him was only slightly showing a loss in volume despite what felt like a stomach's worth of food inhaled.

"No need for that. One of bell's friends is a friend here after all. Especially after that stunt with the Apollo familia, some of the girls made some money on _that_ little adventure. We have some rooms upstairs we rent out from time to time, there aren't enough of the girls to keep upstairs actually full afterall. I always wanted this to be an inn too, we just never got that other building finished, and after all there's still a-_well it's about time_."

Seren had finally collapsed in front of his bowl, face down on the wood as he rested his cheeks that had reached cheek-exhaustion. He had _finally_ reached the end of the absurdly long, mysteriously knife-defying pasta clump.

"How in the seven _hells_ did someone make pasta that long?! How did they _cook_ it? What kind of pot is big enough for six or seven medres of _pasta!_ And what's this stuff _MADE _of anyhow? The _ant_ was softer than this stuff!" Seren was still face down, but he was violently stabbing into the now only half-empty bowl with his knife…to little avail.

"You can thank May for that, the special is her special secret…pun intended. I was starting to think you were going to pass out for a second buddy!" Mama Mia's grin was far to wide as one of Seren's eyeballs stared exhaustedly up at her.

"And you actually understood what I was saying?"

"'You have any idea how long I've been running this joint? I've heard everything from confessions to poems from around a mouthful of food and beer. Back on topic though. If you need a bed, we've some upstairs; seven-fifty valis a night."

Seren didn't even bother to answer as he reached into the smaller bag he had tied to his belt, pulling out a random coin to toss in front of the matron.

"I'm still learning the coinage here…but if this big bag by my feet has as much as it's supposed to, then that shouldn't be a small amount." Mama Mia's fist had grabbed and pocketed the five thousand valis coin before it bounced a second time.

"That'll do you a week if you need it. Just ask an-" -_slam!-_ "ah not again...!"

The center table that been so quiet apparently had an occupant that was tired of the general moping around going on, either that or the grey haired dog/wolf-man that had slammed down his stein in anger had finally had enough to drink.

"It's not fair! The girls got their vacation! Tiona and Tione had the fights of their lives, and the rest of us barely got any action! Now we're stuck walking around the city looking at _rocks!_"

Seren simply glanced over at the matron across the bar from him, eyebrows to the ceiling. She had taken on a rather resigned look as she leaned against the countertop. In response to his expression and jerk of his head, she explained for him.

"That's Loki familia, they're regulars here. A lot of these folk on the edges simply come to watch them eat and drink, look at some of their heroes. That's Bete Loga, one of their front line fighters. He's tough, but if there's one thing he's not good at, it's managing his alcohol. The other's 'll have him hanging from the ceiling again in no time though, you just watch."

Seren grinned in response, his mind flickering back to the years past where alcohol had gotten him and others into (and out of!) some fairly impressive situations. He was about to ask after that room when-

"And then we have to deal with the newbies slowing us down, and now when all I want is a good drink, we're surrounded by imitators like them! And him! …them too!" The grey haired wolf man was motioning vaguely in the direction of several of the guests seated about the room with his mug, Seren included, as he continued loudly on with what sounded like an oft-repeated tirade.

"Bete…you're drunk again…" The green-eyed girl in the white wrap simply sat with her head chin resting on her fist as the wolfman continued to get increasingly expressive about his perceived sufferings.  
"And you would be too if you cared about this shit like I do! We're Loki familia! And right now all everyone is seeing of us is all the little worthless punks walking around poking at rocks and walls, we _barely _got to actually _fight_ those kali amazons before they all _ran, _and now we've jerk-wads like _this_ bozo thinking they can just walk right up!"

The collective eyes of the pub had been locked on the raging wolfman, but at his final words everyone became aware of the man in the strange armor jacket that had walked from the bar to stand behind the Hyrute sisters. The two amazons had tilted their heads back to look upwards at Seren who was standing between and behind their seats, who was in turn gazing steadily at Bete across the table. The sound of the pub…came to a stop. Discussion that had remained mostly hushed became entirely hushed as every set of eyes, or eye singular in some cases, looked on at this new development. The three that Seren had pegged as the "in charge" group, the elder prum, dwarf, and elf sitting at the head of the table, had ceased their hushed discussion over a piece of paper and looked up in unison, frowns marring the faces of all but the blonde, blue-eyed prum that simply viewed the scene calmly, the hint of a smile on his lips.

"Bete…" Finn Deimne started but he was interrupted as Bete stood up, the blue tatoo running down the side of his face seeming almost black in the flickering lamps of the pub.

"I _got_ this Finn." The General of Loki familia opened his mouth to reply, his eyes flicking about the situation, before sitting back with a sigh to watch. "You got something to say…_punk_?"

Seren didn't respond for a moment, his equally blue eyes appearing as black as the streak down Bete's face as they gazed almost motionlessly at the wolfman standing unsteadily, yet still gracefully somehow, on his feet. The moment seemed to stretch on, everything frozen in the hall; Tinoa and Tione Hyrute, heads still cocked back over their chairs, let their eyes roll towards each other a moment before looking back up the chest of armor plates with its slagged hole to Seren's face. Tione couldn't help but notice the skin she saw beneath the plates through said hole looked almost equally solid as the increasingly angry head wolfman of her familia.

"I'd know if you were something, all adventurers can feel others who have leveled up…you're nothing..you're-"

"Loud." Seren's single spoken word had Bete pausing mid-spiel, and the eyes of the room flicked back towards him. The Hyrute girls simply let their eyes roll down to their comrade to watch his reaction, which didn't disappoint. The blue-black lightning bolt on his face became nearly backlit by the furious flush that had covered his face.

"_You_ are-"

"-Not going to enjoy the peace and quiet of a happy little pub anymore. Your friends here seemed quite happy to finish off their day without involving others, you though…seem to have an issue with him…them…and me." Eyes flicked back to the Traveler in the room, the twin's letting their gaze flick back up to watch him through their hair. Seren motioned to the individuals Bete had referenced in his tirade a moment before, adventurers that when pointed out yet again shrank back in their chairs, glances between friends jumping to the door and back to the center tables. "I'm _fairly_ certain that annoying drunks who can't handle their alcohol…was not on the menu for tonight, at least not drunks involving others."

Perhaps the sudden rush of anger burnt off the beer in his system, or perhaps Bete was more functional a drunk than people gave him credit for, but like a switch being flipped the waver in his stance ceased, his legs bent slightly, his fists clenched with intent, his eyes narrowed in focus. Around the room chairs squeaked as the slightest of space was added to the distance between everyone else and…this. One man was patting desperately around his pockets, looking confused.

"I am going to-"

"Do nothing." Almost like watching a game of table-ball, eyes across the room went from right to left and back, and back yet again. The rather well-endowed Hyrute sister in red had a slight frown on her face at the man over her, as she had realized as well as the others that the person who was unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, antagonizing Bete simply didn't _feel_ like an adventurer, at least not one of any level anyways. Tione was growing increasingly worried that her-_the_ General was going to have some cleaning up to do with the Guild after this. Beside her, Tiona simply watched with a small smile on her lips. This was going to be _interesting_ no matter what way things went. As things were, it was going to get violent very quickly if Bete didn't-

"This is unseemly." The as usual, until now, quiet and nearly monotone voice brought Seren's head around and down along with Bete and everyone else who had somehow not noticed the green-haired waitress walking up. "You are here with Mr. Cranell's recommendation. To cause harm here tonight…would reflect poorly upon Mr. Cranell." At this, eyes and heads popped up and back at the mention of the Little Rookie, including the quiet blonde sitting at the far end of the table opposite of the apparent heads of the familia. Tiona's eyes went wide as well at this.

"Mr. Arognaut?" Before she could continue though Bete interrupted.

"Cause harm? It's this little punk who's going to find out what his _INSIDES_ look lik-"

_-THWAKMP-_

With a force jarring enough to be felt in the floor through the soles of some of the onlookers boots, a dagger impaled itself with shattering force into the table in front of Bete. Shattering that is, for the half-full mug of beer that effectively exploded at the impact. The sudden burst of beer was so unexpected that everyone caught in the splash radius simply blinked in surprise, or in Tiona's case, happily smacked at her suddenly beer covered lips before gagging.

"-uuughh….it's Bete!"

The sound of whimpering from one of the corners could be heard, as the bald adventurer with an extravagant earring that had been desperately searching for his suddenly missing dagger realized where it had gone. Having one's knife suddenly simply…float away…was not something he had been prepared for.

Even Mama Mia, who was known for her unflappable-ness, stood blinking in surprise. She had been getting ready to intervene, but the intervention of Ryu and the sudden death of one of her cups had ended that train of thought…though the table itself was also looking like it was slightly more…bendy…than usual as well.

"Truth. Perhaps a new cup of…water…will cool things off." With a nod towards Ryu, Seren turned from the table to walk over to his bag of gear and Rolly sitting by his chair. "You mentioned a room I believe."

Mama Mia simply nodded and motioned to the stairs in the far corner.

"Last one the left, don't make a mess. They're waitresses…not maids."

With a nod, Seren grabbed his things and walked toward said stairs behind the heads of Loki familia, where a sleepy-eyed, red-headed figure with a bobcut was just lifting her head from the table.

"Take a night off the tab…I think you need a new cup…and table."

Before she could reply, Mama Mia's head, along with everyone else's, whipped around at the sound of a loud snap, as a large crack suddenly erupted from the table with the embedded knife blade in it, causing the entire table to sage in the middle, plates sliding together at the center.

With that said, and done, Seren vanished up the stairs.

As everyone looked around in confusion and curiosity as to what would happen next, along with the man gingerly walking up with a longing gaze on his knife in a broken table, Finn Deimne simply sighed.

"Perhaps Bete…next time you'll let me _finish_ my sentence?" Even drunk, or perhaps not as much as before, Bete could only give a sharp nod to his General as Loki, who had herself fallen asleep on her arms and missed the entire thing, looked around in confusion.

With that, the volume of the room suddenly seemed to ramp back up as everyone began talking, without any restraint this time, about what had just happened. Syr and Lunoire, another of the (human) maids, had grabbed an empty table and were dragging it over to replace the now rather unreliable piece furniture.

In all the hubbub of the excited and now quite energized pub, no one heard the green-eyed girl whisper.

"Who was _that_?"

Author's Notes:

Sorry to everyone for the delay in writing this chapter. Once Seren and Co. were up and out of the dungeon, I had a problem: They were up and out of the dungeon. The entire initial idea in my mind was the image of one of my Travelers swinging a lightsaber as he swept through the dungeon. It felt unique, exciting, fun. Getting out turned out to be more of a story than I planned however, and when I finally got them out…the possibilities opened up beyond what I first expected.

I got some wonderful messages with ideas and questions, and I realized that my initial ideas…were so mundane and expected, I suppose. The split in the opinions of those who like one group or particular familia is actually quite sharp in the Danmachi community, and I realized that almost any direction I went would result in significant disappointment in one or more groups of readers, which I don't want, especially since I can see it in advance.

So…I threw away my original plan and stopped thinking about the story entirely for a bit. I needed a good reset and I know how I think, and that one day an idea would pop into my head out of the blue. Which it did. Now the worry of what direction I would take Seren has faded away to the excitement of just where I can take this, him, and others as he steps into the complex environment that is Orario at this stage.

Seren has some major healing to do, Bell and Co. have some major growing up to do, and yet others have demons of their own they need put to rest. Hopefully the coming chapters will do those futures justice.


	7. The Dark Truths

Chapter 7: The Dark Truths

The sun had set on this side of Coruscant, massive windows set high into the vaulting ceiling and walls of the temple were showing starlight instead of a warming daylit glow. The only light now filling the cavernous spaces that were the chambers of the Jedi Temple were the soft walk-way lights set evenly along the broad walkways. The result was a barely lit, yet calm and serene view from above.

Seren and his master were walking slowly along one such walkway now, their speed slowed to match that of the short jedi beside them to whom they were giving their unofficial report.

"-and so with Kuat being so close to Neimodia, direct action was the only possible solution. Any delay would have simply allowed the trade federation to reinforce their forces beyond control. I cannot agree with Seren's actions any more than I do now Master Yoda."

"Hrrmm….Important to the Republic Kuat is…aligned with the separatists…tragedy it would be." The diminutive green Jedi Master mused to himself as he hobbled forward down the length of the main hall of the temple on one of the raised side balconies. The group was not going anywhere in particular, Master Yoda had expressed a simple desire to walk while the freshly arrived team gave their informal report. "Best option to take, you think it was padawan?"

"Doubtful Master." Seren's quiet voice carried just enough to reach the ears of the masters he was following respectfully behind. "A good option of several good possibilities perhaps, but the best…I do not know master. I simply let myself relax and listen, and exposing the ambassador seemed to come as naturally as my next breath."

"Hrmmmm…" Though his response was nothing but a thoughtful hum, masters Yoda and Maseet shared a glance and slight smile at the surprisingly old padawan's response.

"Will of the force you did listen padawan. Excellent senator will be this Senator Danu. Worrying…this attack. Kuat and Naboo alike…at work…a larger plan than thought I think."

"There was no sign of a sith as at Naboo Master Yoda, so the…confidence…the Nemoidians possessed was worrying to say the least. They expected aid far beyond what they should have had available to them." Master Anaris pointed out. "Kuat and Naboo were successes of a sort, but Sullust appears to have at the very least agreed to increase trade deals via the confederation. I worry at what will come there."

"Pardon me masters, I will return in but a moment." Both masters simply nodded in calm acceptance as Seren suddenly made his statement before turning to stride away towards the central aisle below their balcony. Below, a jedi and a young boy were walking from the main entrance, the pair his apparent target as he hurriedly stepped down one of the circling staircases.

"Qui-gon's loss will be felt for some time I believe." Anaris could not help but comment as she looked down on her former partner's former padawan. "Obi-wan will make an excellent knight and eventually an excellent master I believe, a good testament to Qui-gon's legacy."

"Gone Qui-gon is not, one with the force he has become, closer to us all…now he is." Anaris Maseet nodded as Master Yoda's calm response echoed the beliefs of the Jedi and the solace that was supposed to be found from their code.

Anaris was silent for a moment as she watched Seren walk towards the pair below. "Seren was meditating before we came out of hyperspace master." Master Yoda remained silent as his fellow master and former padawan gathered her thoughts.

"When he awoke, his first words were rather troubling. "Chaos has come…a dark seed is sprouted."

From below, the pair without focusing could make out only the occasional word as met his quarry, even in the near silence of the temple that despite the hours and darkness remained mildly active even now.

"-urat…am…-an Kenobi…rentice…ywalker…a pl…ure."

"Growing it was this secret war. Unknown it was, newborn…it was not."

Anaris nodded in response to the famed master's words but responded in turn.

"That's what I said as well, but he simply looked at me with that far off look he can have...and said that this was new…this one was young. 'Two shadows and a curtain' he said"

"Alert then we must be…open to the force your padawan's eyes surprisingly have been. Disregard this…we cannot."

"Indeed."

Seren opened his eyes, the dream fading away at the speed of forgotten dreams. As he sat up, he was confused for a moment as he looked around the small room with its simple furnishings. Only when he saw his armor and gear stacked on the small table next to the door did reality seem to snap fully back, the images of the temple like the after-flashes of lightning; there but only if he focused on it as it faded away.

Surprisingly, considering his propensity to being a light sleeper, on top of the stack of random stuff and gear and Rolly's still form was a small note, propped up and positioned to be easily seen even from the bed.

'_Guild sends regards…presence requested soonish nyah'. -Chloe ' _

Seren couldn't help but grin, the cat people even _wrote_ that sound. Well, at least he now understood Bell's rush to guide him to safe haven; the kid couldn't lie to save his life and the entire walk from the blue pharmacy to the pub had been filled with Bell nervously chatting his mouth off. That random individuals from the central authority of the city had found him so early in the morning, if the sunlight coming through the shutters was any indication at least, then they had an informant, of which Bell was the most likely culprit.

'_Well I can't fault him for that, he's a kid of order and rules after all.'_

Fortunately for Seren's sanity, the city had running water. Of a sorts at least. In this case, it was a spigot outside that led from the wood burning water heater, but even just wiping off with hot water and a cloth was better than a cold water bath…or nothing at all. In the last twenty-ish years, Seren had become quite _fond_ of actually being clean, a state that wasn't so easy in most parts of most universes. As he closed and locked the door to his temporary home, Seren took one last look at the manner in which his possessions were laid out. Rolly was leaning half against the wall and bed, the bag of currency behind it. With any luck, if theft was a problem the plate-sized rock would be able to defend its current home…without leveling it. Any thoughts of rocks and rock-throwing, scrubbing and rubbing and rubber duckies fled his mind however as he stepped down into the empty hall of the pub below; money bag, utility pouches and lightsaber swinging from his belt. His armor was on, but the pinching of the slightly spaced out plates was annoying, clothing was going to be a priority before he went anywhere else.

"Ya' didn't say you had issues with the guild…" Mama Mia was doing some math while a sleepy looking Anya was straightening chairs and tables. The mortally wounded table from the night before was nowhere to be seen. "Every place in the city gets along because the guild doesn't have any reason to notice them, if you've problems, I need to know."

"Information gathering." Seren yawned as he went to grab some peanut-looking stuff out of a bowl. A hard whack from a spoon killed that idea. "Oh…closed. Anyhow, there were…issues…regarding the stuff that went down the other day down below. I'm pretty sure they just want me to go share my side of the story."

The matron's eyes narrowed in suspicion but relaxed when she gave a sharp nod in return.

"If that changes bud…I still need to know."

Seren threw a lazy salute in response as he headed for the swinging doors that was the entrance. Just as he reached it, he stopped to glance at the brown-haired cat-girl that had switched to sweeping.

"You wouldn't know of a place to get…_clothes_ by any chance would you?"

A grin followed by a "yawn-nyah" was his answer.

JiO-JiO

"Ok…whatever they use for their leather…I like it…"

Seren was headed (_finally!_) towards the guild headquarters he had been in yesterday. Anya might be sleepy in the mornings, but apparently the thought of shopping was mental caffeine to the cat-girl. Her requests…or beggings that is…to Mama Mia to escort him had been so fast that Seren and the Matron had both covered their ears to avoid damage to their brains. Eventually, the broad-shouldered owner had just pointed out the door in desperation.

"Go! Go! Just come back as soon as you can and you're _not_ getting out of your work!"

After that, her view had shifted to Seren with steadily squinting eyes.

Seren had grabbed the suddenly wide-awake girl and bolted for it as the sound of invectives chased him out the door. Anya simply giggled the whole while.

"Gotta' admit…that girl knows her style…"

Anya hadn't even needed to look around or try any different shops out. Straight away, she pulled a nearly running Seren along the winding side-streets southwards to the market district. There, like a mynock to an electrical junction she shot to a small side-store that sold…leather.

"_This_ is what _you_ need Mr. Seren nyah! You'll look great in _this_ nyah!"

The item he wound up holding was a thin black leather jacket that incredibly enough…_fit_…perfectly. Wearing it, the armor plates of his outer armor slid right over to their natural position. Truth be told, it felt almost exactly like his previous outfit that the plates had been woven into. Throw in the fact that it apparently came from a flame salamander and, as such, it was somewhat resistant to flame…Seren was sold. He had learned his lesson from down below. Eight thousand valis? Done.

"How did you know about a jacket that would fit me perfectly in some side-street shop?" Anya had simply grinned and gave a completely nonsensical response: "Cats know everything nyah!"

In this at least, Seren wasn't going to disagree.

Plus…it was soft. Seren liked soft things.

And, so it was that he found himself walking the streets back towards the main guild office. Anya had pulled him so fast through so many alleys and side streets that he didn't even _try_ to make his way back the way he had come, but had quickly found the main street that was the western spoke of the wheel that was Orario and simply headed back towards the tower. In the end, all he would have to do is head back northwest and he would be set.

It was as he was once more walking away from the tower to the northwest and his destination of the guild office that he felt the attack.

Like a shaft of bright light through the gloom of a foggy night, a lance of…_something_ seemed to suddenly strike Seren in the chest. The emotions and imagery that flashed before his eyes in that moment absolutely screamed of the force and the usual whispers in the aether had become a crescendo in his mind's ear, like the inner voice of one's consciousness suddenly becoming an opera singer. Behind it all, was the after-image that was like a ghost, a pair of silver eyes looking through the light and into his very being.

As was Seren's want when things happened that he wasn't expecting, he simply relaxed and let himself act. His first response was a sudden spin in the middle of the street, looking for whomever was stripping away his mental and emotional shields like butter before a hot wind. Besides the quartet of store stalls with the scattered shoppers here and there, and the child playing down the street, there was no one. Only when he again relaxed and tried to hear where this song through the aether was coming from that he turned again…to look at the tower of Babel. Precisely, he found himself looking up…at the very peak of the tower that was fully exposed on this cloud-free day.

"Hatred by Love, Refusal by Lust…_Hatred by Love! Refusal by Lust!" _ Quietly, yet with incredible passion, Seren let slip his utterance that he used as a cheat-sheet of sorts as he momentarily closed his eyes to the image of the tower peak and reached out with his mental arms and ears to grasp and _listen_ to what was true…to what was the _will _of the force. The height of heresy to the Jedi, it was Seren's furious seizing and utterance of balance that so set him apart to the angst of many a master, and delight of one in particular. Had any of those masters seen the mental image that accompanied his words, they would have been yet further repulsed by his rejection of the core beliefs of their order.

It was a quick sequence of memories that raced through his mind that he used to set the foundation of his grasp for the force; A memory of standing over a terrified yet haughty and furious queen, a red-hot axe in hand as he, with a furious and twisted grimace upon his face, swung down time and time again, severing the limbs from her body in sprays of blood and bursts of smoke, the sizzling of flesh in his ears and nose, her screams of both terror, pain, and rage echoing in the throne room.

The sensation of rocking on the gentle waves of a lake, the feeling of the young woman in his arms asleep against him, the sense of love exploding in his chest as he stared down at his new bride in wonder; the smile upon her lips even in sleep spoke volumes to him even then.

The disgust as he strode down the steps from a massive palace, shimmering glass, gilded steel and brass everywhere he looked. Behind him the figures of the politicians that would not stand to defend the lands they had sworn to protect, the scent of smoke from the burning fields beyond the walls in his nose. They had been weak and afraid, unwilling to follow either logic or passion in their fear of loss.

The final image had been the most recent to be applied to his mantra. One evening after training, Seren had been in the cargo bay of the _Rising Fire_. Master Anaris had been ill again, and Naya had wobbled in behind him while Seren had been checking on their latest shipment. The teen twi'lek girl had been drinking…something…and was for some reason angry at him. One thing had led to another and finally to their first time together, the young and now thoroughly bruised twi'lek bent almost double over an inactive r-five droid, screaming in drunken ecstasy from Seren's own angry, and passionate, response.

It was as the final scene faded away from his mental view that the sound around him seemed to just…go silent. The scent of lilac and honey filled the air and his eyes felt like they were on fire. The image of the tower, like on a longshot-sniper cam, seemed to snap closer and closer until he was looking at a shimmering figure standing upon a balcony…looking at him…at his soul. Seren's response was immediate and in hindsight…_far _out of proportion…and beautifully perfect.

Reaching back behind him as though for something to throw, he let his will guide the glowing motes of light in his mind, and the sensation of tiny invisible tentacles erupting from his pores set his senses on fire. Like a whip, each mental tentacle seemed to snap out before grabbing a mote and pulling it inwards. Within a moment and almost without thought, Seren had summoned enough aether from without to the core of his body to level entire buildings. That power nearly on instinct raced to the outstretched hand held behind him, where in a flash, five blue-white stars erupted into existence with a _-whoomp-_ of suddenly compressed air as the very oxygen around the compiled aether was ignited and consumed.

Ignoring the sudden uprush of air and dust, Seren kept his focus on the figure's outline in his view…and threw.

To those around him, his actions had been so sudden that for the most part, all the surrounding shoppers and shopkeepers saw was a strange adventurer suddenly standing in a triumphant, overly heroic pose pointing towards the tower.

'_Another strange one…won't last a day…crazy.'_

It was the young girl with the dirty bow in her hair playing in a fancy red dress with a small ball that was the sole witness to his sudden and explosive throwing of stars bright enough to make her eyes water in response.

On Seren's part, he only fully realized _what_ he had done when he stood there, hand outstretched and a manic grin on his face as he saw the stars vanishing upwards in the distance, his eyes widening in sudden understanding as his instinctive and reactive response to the force finally registered like the moment of combat startlingly coming to a close.

"Oh…_shit_…"

JiO-JiO

Freya Blinked.

She had been focusing on the soul that had caught her eye down below a few moments before. Granted, her suite on the upper floor of Babel was high enough that her _physical_ vision couldn't actually _see_ what she was looking at, but her Discerning Eye was able to see the souls of children no matter the distance. Most souls moving about below were singular in color, making the entirety of Orario one great mass of color shifting about in waves and tides, seemingly random and all mixed up. Of late, only the soul of one other had caught her eye so; a young man, a boy really, whose soul had shimmered as clear as crystal ice. This soul however…

It was like the star Sirius in the summer night sky, shimmering and shifting from one color to the next, so fast and bright that to look at it was to make her mind's eye spin. As she gazed down upon it though, trying to _see _through those dizzying colors to perhaps the core of its owner, that random array of light for a moment froze before with almost the practiced beat of a drum flashed color to color: From the dark red of oozing blood to a shimmering purple, from the color of lovers to the sick yellow-green of rejection and jealousy, to the burning red of unbridled lust to settle finally on the steady orange glow of satisfaction.

Her body's reaction to the sudden stab of emotion through those colors was almost her undoing. The sheer fury first sent every hair on body standing on end, her mortal senses coming alive in a primal instinct for survival to either fight or run. The next, again overwhelming, sensation literally took her breath away as a sense of intense and absolute _love_ washed over her, the combined sensations of being absolutely _completed_ covering her like a blanket.

It was the puke-green of rejection, jealousy, and dismissal that robbed her of speech though, the contrast so sharp and sudden the physical part of her mind came to a halt in confusion. The previous and current sensations were simply…_incompatible_ so close together.

It was, however, the second to last and yet most overwhelming sensation of them all that almost sent her back to Tenkai. Staring down into that soul, she suddenly felt such a drive to take and be _taken_ she couldn't move. Her already skin-tight clothing became even tighter as goosebumps erupted along her flesh, her nipples tightening in response, her sex suddenly wetting as she had not experienced from a lover in so long. She was rooted in place by a passion that was…so alive and animalistic and _focused_.

But now…satisfaction? Freya placed one hand on the wall as she leaned forward in confusion, blinking to clear the light from her eyes before she suddenly realized that this light…was not being seen by her remaining godly ability. The shimmering blue-white light of a new-borne star was burning below her…and growing still brighter…and closer.

She was barely able to gasp out a single terrified word: _"Ottar!"_

Her most senior, and loyal, member of her familia was, as usual per his wont, watching over her. The Boaz adventurer had noticed the sudden focus his goddess had acquired while looking outside, but as ever stood silent in observation. The sudden gasp from his Goddess was certainly unexpected, but it did not matter. He reacted immediately.

Moving so fast that his first step shattered the marble floor, Ottar had moved beside his Goddess and in one arm swept her into his embrace while with the other held out a massive black sword. He was but a moment of a moment in looking outwards at the scene before throwing himself, and his goddess, down and to the side.

Freya did not return to Tenkai this day.

Just as Ottar cleared the balcony archway, five fist-sized burning stars struck. Two impacted outside, just below the balcony itself where they would burn into the rock before exploding outwards, and inwards, in a deadly spray of shards that would turn to dust on the wind and shred the fine upholstery of the well-furnished room.

A third star flashed almost perfectly through the center of the archway, exactly where Freya had been standing barely a fraction of a second earlier, before screaming upwards and into the ceiling where with a blinding flash and -_shaboom-_ caused a spray of lethal shards to shred the library shelves, carpet, chairs, and large bed. The exquisite and delicate crystal chandelier would be sent spinning in the chaos.

The fourth star would come the closest to actually harming Freya despite Ottar's efforts as it impacted on the sword the boaz was holding. Had the angle of the blade or its position in his grip been any different, then the result could have been far more lethal. However, as it was the entirety of the black blade suddenly flashed red-hot as it was sent spinning from his smoking grip. The projectile of, _whatever_ it was, was however reflected and slammed into, and through, the many bookshelves lining the wall. The resulting explosion from _that_ impact sent burning paper, wood, and even more stone flying through the air.

The fifth and final blast however, while the least dangerous, was by far the most extravagant and visually impressive in terms of its results. The chandelier that had been sent spinning had only barely shifted when, just in time, the central crystal made of a rare eastern gem was struck dead-center by the final blue-white…ball.

The room was destroyed.

Superficially, granted as the holes made from the now internally reflected blasts were all fairly minor, but the clear gem that was effectively melted by the sudden intense heat survived long enough to act as an internal lens that sent _hundreds_ of smaller beams throughout the room. Ottar, holding Freya below him, snarled in pain as several lanced his leg, back, and shoulders. The freshly burning bookshelves were turned to splinters, the papers already filling the air ignited midflight, the marble scorched and, in many places, shattered. The thick oak doors that served as the gateway to her inner sanctum were pockmarked and, in several places, burned clean through.

Almost in declaration of the finality, and conclusion, of the absurdly sudden destruction and near death of his goddess…the chandelier fell to the floor, the few remaining unshattered crystals doing just that.

Amidst the sound of falling rock, flickering flames, settling papers and panicked yelling from outside, came one sound that confounded the massive boaz.

Freya was giggling like a little schoolgirl in his arms.

Gently releasing her at the same time as the doors were kicked open by Allen and Hogni as they raced in, Ottar looked down at Freya who, holding her fists to her mouth to try and suppress her laughter, was almost crying in her mirth. Ottar could only look up at the cat-man and dark elf in equal confusion and concern at Freya's reaction.

"I…I think-" Freya could not continue for a moment as she practically spasmed in a fit of giggles before suddenly settling slightly.

"I think I made someone angry…" Freya finally managed before bursting again into a fit of near-childish laughter. Ottar simply turned to Allen and Hogni with a snarl:

"_Below! GO!"_

The sudden and furious investigation by the Freya familia into who or what had attacked their lady was stymied by the fact that it had happened at such a unique time in the morning: Too early for workers to go to lunch, late enough that most traffic had settled. Unbeknownst to the almost hundred Freya members that flooded the streets, there had been but only one actual witness to the use of magic within Orario against the tower of Babel.

That witness was a young girl of no more than six who was, even as Freya enforcers raced past the window, having her eyes washed out with water as her mother angrily scolded her for running around outside in the dust in her nice dress. What happened when bad girls ran around outside? They got sand in their eyes, _that's_ what.

Seren simply skulked away in surprise, and embarressed regret, at his sudden and completely unrestrained action. If there was one thing the Jedi never spoke about, it was the possible consequences of so blindly following the will of a force that cared nothing for the opinions and attitudes of individuals.

All Seren could do was hope that he hadn't hurt anyone too badly…and that they weren't anyone important. He had enough to deal with as is.

JiO-JiO

Seren had barely stepped inside the guild offices when a pink-haired girl suddenly stood away from her counter desk and, with her arms flapping crazily, started yelling.

"Mr. Serreen…yooohoooo! Over heeerrree!" Unbeknownst to Misha, her arm motions were eerily similar to those made by the launch techs on a star carrier. Between her pink hair and the bright pink pen in her hand Seren could easily see this girl guiding in a ship for landing.

"Okay! So, I figured out a perfect way to communicate to you where to go!" As Seren walked up about to open his mouth, Misha held up a large sign with a big arrow and the words "Go!"

"But THEN I realized…you might not use arrows where you're from…so I thought of this!" At this, Misha pointed to the far corner of the counter where, when Seren walked around to the other side, he saw carefully drawn chalk footprints that led deeper into the building. The (again!) pink powder on Misha's hands and work outfit indicated clearly who the culprit behind the defamation of the tiles was.

Seren opened his mouth to point out that he didn-

"But Eina made a good point, why would you think those were meant for you instead of simply being from an adventurer who somehow got covered in chalk? So I thought of this!" This time to Seren's growing amusement, Misha picked up a stick with…a piece of food…hanging from a string tied to the end. "Every man gets hungry…so I decided that I'd just lead you to Royman's office this way!"

Whatever that food was it looked like it had gone cold some time before…if the congealed grease on the outside of the fried…thing…was any indication. Glancing around, Seren saw the woman from the other day that had lambasted poor Bell sitting a few seats down, chin in her palm as she stared with a look of absolute and dejected surrender at Misha.

"To think she actually gets work done…I don't understand _how_…" Eina was shaking her head in distraught confusion, other nearby workers biting their lips as they looked on at the scene as well.

Seren opened his mouth to reply…to say _something_…and paused…waiting for Misha to interject yet again. For her part, she simply stared at him, pink eyes wide in expectation. After a moment he simply closed his mouth and shook his head in amazement. He would _definitely_ have to see how long he could push this little miscommunication. And so, he simply gave Misha a nod and smile before turning to follow the pink footprints further into the structure, leaving the girls behind.

"Yes!" Misha pumped her fist in the air in success as she jumped up in joy. "It _worked_! I'm actually _good at this!_ I am _soooo_ going to ask for more of the foreign adventurers…pay raise _here we come!_"

Eina, who had noticed that at no point had Seren had a look of confusion or misunderstanding on his face, understood that Seren had comprehended far more of what Misha had been actually saying than she thought. Even so, she didn't want to burst her friend's bubble quite yet.

"Perhaps…some more practice first Misha?" Her friend's response was almost terrifying from the near evil look of manic glee on her face as she stared out over the room to focus on one of the eastern adventurers that had recently arrived. Perhaps sensing the approach of a dangerous predator, the young woman in the multi-colored wraps was looking around the room with a concerned look on her face, hand on the dagger at her waist.

"Oh _yessss_….I've _got_ this…!"

JiO-JiO

The pink footprints led down several halls to a door with a gilded plaque on it that read simply "Director". Outside said door, a stunningly fat elf was on his knees wiping at the footprints that led inwards.

"Silly…girl…fee…property…argghh!" The footprint gone, the elf groaned in frustration when he stood only to see his fine suit pants covered in pink dust from the _other_ footprint he had been kneeling on. Already Seren could see the flush beginning to overtake his rotund cheeks.

"My apologies…but if that footprint was anything to go by…I think I have an appointment in there." The wide and intelligent dark green eyes that turned to him in response were in fact not what Seren had been expecting. Contrary to this elf's physical well-being, the intelligence that reflected from those eyes was startling almost.

"If you are the man I think you are…I was led to understand you did not speak koine…" Those eyes had narrowed in suspicion by the time that sentence was finished.

Seren could only shrug in response, "Language magic is an amazing thing. Painful perhaps…but I can't argue with the results." The elf, Royman if Misha was any guide at all, simply stared at him for several heartbeats before nodding in return.

"Indeed, I have heard of such but even in Orario, there is often little need. Please mister…Seren I believe it was…come in." With one last anguished look at the pink footprint-covered hallway, the director walked back into his office with Seren following behind.

The office was entirely what Seren had come to expect from powerful people in administrative organizations. Thick carpet, extravagantly decorated tables, chair and desk behind which the obese elf was settling, massive wood bookshelves crammed with neatly ordered, and likely never read books of likely high value…if the gold lettering on many covers was any indication. This man understood wealth and its trappings if appearances were anything to go by. The massive piles of papers and forms spread across the broad desk also indicated that the man understood work as well too.

"I am Royman Mardeel, Director of the Guild of Orario. Could you please confirm for me please your name good Sir?"

"Seren Nas' Surat Andanahe' Christian Terrance Purdell," The director's blinking continued for several moments longer than necessary, so he thought it might be best to keep it simple. "Seren Nas' Surat sir…the rest is more of a title I suppose."

The director was filling out a form as he concluded and when he looked up continued, "And are you the individual reported by several sources as appearing to have…and I quote…"somehow entered the dungeon without entering the dungeon…?"

"Aaahhh….yes I suppose that's as good a description as anyth-"

_-pop!-_

The sudden appearance of a folded letter on a gold plate set to the side of the desk interrupted Seren, his eyebrows lifting in curiosity at the unique method of mail delivery. The director's…Royman's…reaction was far more interesting however as his head snapped to the side so fast that Seren was not only certain he heard cartilage crack, but he saw waves flow through the man's cheeks as the fat caught up with the violent motion. The look on the his face as he reached surprisingly gingerly for the note was pure frustration.

Seren simply sat there in silence, one hand in his lap and the other resting on his lightsaber that as ever rode high to his side. The director in turn however was reading, and re-reading what appeared to be a rather short letter that he could only assume was about himself as the director's eyes, repeatedly, flickered in his direction.

"It seems we are done here." Seren could only blink in surprise as Royman sighed as he set the letter down before ponderously standing again. "Please follow me, your presence is requested."

"Ah." In truth, there wasn't much to say to that as Seren followed the rotund administrator out of his office and down the hall in the direction of a dark corridor.

"Lord Ouranos has requested your presence. It seems our Lord is aware of your…unique…circumstances and desires information directly." As he finished, the director stopped next to a staircase cut into the wall that went down into the dark. The steps were covered in what looked to be red velvet, and railings had been cut directly into the stone wall. This was not a mere connecting set of stairs.

"Below is our Lord's chamber of prayer. You will remain respectful and silent until our Lord has spoken. If _due_ respect is not paid to our Lord…you will deal with the Guild good Sir. Am I understood?" Royman was, even in his obvious frustration at having his investigation pulled out from under him, speaking from a clear sense of dedication and duty. Seren had no doubt that if he angered this man, his time in the city would likely be short.

"Understood. Thank you for your assistance and…assuming that all remains well…I look forward to being of assistance in the future." Seren gave a quick bow, a custom he had observed repeatedly already in the social interactions around him, as he said farewell. Keeping this man on his good side…couldn't hurt. Royman in return simply nodded, his face relaxing slightly at Seren's words before turning to stride back to his office. Seren simply proceeded downwards into the darkness lit by only the periodic candle.

In the end, he was rather surprised at just how _deep_ he had to go before exiting into a chamber large enough to be cloaked in shadows on all sides despite a quartet of large braziers burning at the top of a dais. Upon said dais was what could best be called a throne upon which sat…an old man. The closer he got to the base of the stairs leading up, the older, and yet more refined the old man appeared. If his eyes hadn't been closed in prayer or mediation…heck maybe sleep…then Seren wouldn't have been surprised to see an intelligence or vibrancy that defied his aged appearance.

It was also in his mind's eye that saw the deeper reality of the situation as well. Similar to the many deities he had already seen or encountered walking the street, this man had that _flow_ of aether through him that made him seem to shimmer a bit when he focused. The difference here though was that _this_ man's shimmer was far, _far_ more intense than any of the others. Seren could only assume that his deity…ness…was closer to the surface as well.

Seren wasn't entirely surprised by the non-greeting he received. Be it religious ceremonies, pompous behavior, or power-plays at work, he had dealt with this behavior from authority figures for as long as he could remember. So…he waited. Assuming a classic military waiting position, Seren clasped his hands behind his back and set his feet comfortably apart to wait however long this was going to take. Perhaps it was the flickering flames, the darkness or cool air that still somehow managed to circulate, but even though in the time that would pass the sun climbed to its zenith, it was as though but a moment passed below in that chamber, Seren lost in his thoughts.

"Welcome…Guardian."

The quiet, and yet still intense words, snapped Seren out of…wherever he had been. His reaction was immediate, and almost violent in how it shook him back into full awareness below the gaze of the sky-blue eyes above.

_"No!_" There was no thought or intention behind his words until, after his almost-yell had stopped echoing, that Seren realized that probably wasn't a good start. "Ahh..ah hmm…I mean…well…no…I'm not a Guardian…neither new nor old."

The aged deity's eyes widened slightly at the end of his actual response before narrowing in thought once more.

"You know that name…a Traveler at the least then I assume…"

"Yes, definitely a Traveler." Seren nodded in reply, his mind racing. The number of those who understood what lay on the other side of the gates tended to be few and far betwe- '..._wait a minute_…'

"You _know_ about Guardians and Travelers!"

Ouranos nodded slightly in return. Overall, this man's responses had been…restrained to say the least. Controlled. "Indeed. I had the pleasure of encountering one of your kind once long ago. Many millennia in fact."

Seren blinked, "My understanding from one of your kind was that your people only started descending from your world about a thousand years ago…"

"Indeed. In fact, our city just celebrated the one thousand year anniversary of that moment when I descended to this very place where you stand."

Do the math do the math do the mat- "So…there's a Gate in Tenkai…"

"There is. It has been one of the few mysteries of the Gods. Even Aetherious and Gaia were never able to say where the rings came from. As all we knew, they had existed in Tenkai for time immortal, before even we the Gods emerged." At this Chronos' gaze on Seren grew sharp. "For you to be here, I must assume that such a gate resides below as well."

The only thing Seren could do in response was nod while his mind continued to race. It had been so long that he was no longer even certain where or when the knowledge had come from, but at some point, he was fairly certain it had been Jax that explained a unique occurrence in the universe.

"So if the gate was there, then where did the dungeon come from? Dungeons don't just…pop up…and swallow gates. Especially considering the time frames involved here…"

Ouranos, who had been watching Seren's eyes bounce around in thought, merely motioned slightly with his hand: continue.

"Ok…so I'm not even remembering very well when I was taught this, but damn if I can't still hear Jax talking my ear off about this. _He_ I know has dealt with dungeons before at least." For the first time in the encounter, Ouranos had actually _moved_, in this case only to very slightly lean forward in interest.

"Dungeons can happen in two ways: naturally and unnaturally. The natural way is kinda sad actually, and it's always from a concentration of life ironically. Take a burrow of…rabbits or something ok? Ok. Well your rabbits have baby rabbits…and most of the rabbits leave but one stays to make more rabbits…and more…and the cycle continues…onwards and onwards."

Seren had finally abandoned his formal stance and was now pacing back and forth before Ouranos who's only action was to follow with his eyes.

"-And this cycle…it can continue for millennia. Life, death, life life death…on and on. But…the important part…the burrow…it remains. It exists, and after time the sheer focus and concentration of aeather and released enneagrams sees that burrow slowly develop…well…not consciousness…but awareness I suppose."

"The burrow becomes alive?" Ouranos felt he had to clarify at least this.

"In a sense…but only a sense and that's the point. It's not until after this naturally shaped and fueled burrow-enneagram thingy that the real catalyst has to happen…everything needs to die." Ouranos merely very slightly cocked his head in response to this.

"That's the trigger. This enneagram has helped protect, feed, hide, nourish, and comfort a constant chain of linked descendants for oh _Gods_ knows only how many years…as much as a piece of rock or dirt can love…it loves. And then…death."

"…death."

"Death. Maybe it's a flood, earthquake, fire, poison cloud, comet…so many possibilities…but everything related to that burrow _dies_. No more bunnies or whatever…the family tree is done, over, kaput. But the enneagram…it's very purpose for existence…that still exists. Now however…there's nowhere for it's energies to _go_…so they start to rebound back into the enneagram itself. Now it's growing strong from its own very existence, every bug and insect and varmint that wanders in only to be drained of life feeds not any of the usual inhabitants…but _it. _With that energy comes _now_…a form of consciousness emerges…but it's sad, alone, angry, and by its very nature…hungry."

Ouranos focus was laser sharp on Seren now, and even the shadow that had lingered behind the dais that he had sensed upon entering had finally abandoned caution and stepped out to listen better. Seren simply continued the lesson that was bubbling up from somewhere in his memory.

"So now it's actively luring creatures in. It's not a burrow now…but a trap. Nothing will live there ever again, but life…is drawn in. First it's the bugs, then the small rodents, then the larger rodents…eventually large-scale life forms like dogs, deer, wolves, whatever…all lured in…to die and be consumed. It's around this point that consciousness becomes so much _more_…and it starts growing. The burrow that was a hole is now a pit…then a cave system…then a system of caves…and then a group of levels of systems of caves…and on and on and on."

"The dungeon expands on its own…?" It was the shadowy figure, in his or her deep and yet seemingly orchestral voice that spoke this time.

"Yes. Eventually, the dungeon stops merely drawing in life because over time…life adapts. Spirits become hardier, more resistant, like an immunity. So, it's not merely enough to try and snuff out their spirit…but they have to be actively killed…so the dungeon creates its own life forms to fight. Only _now…_it discovers that one of the consequences of conflict and violence…is yet more release of life energy. _Especiallyfrom _a violent death. Spirits and souls don't _like_ being defeated and sent onwards, and the release of energy is…relatively speaking of course…immense. From there…it's just a repeating cycle. Eventually, if sapient beings decide to try and destroy said dungeon…well…they have to enter and fight…"

"So, more conflict…and more death…so more energy released…" The shadow murmured.

"Exactly…what is sought to be destroyed, is in the very act fed and nourished. It's what makes destroying dungeons so hard. You have to be able to identify, locate, reach, and then destroy the core all while your very actions are sustaining and helping it protect itself. For a dungeon like…it would be…that's a sharp spike after all…"

Fels and Ouranos simply looked at each other as Seren began muttering to himself, his pacing having transitioned slowly into an oval circle he was tracing, no longer even aware of his audience for the moment. Finally, Fels spoke up, snapping Seren out of his inwards calculations.

"How long would this take?" The answer was immediate.

"Millennia. You're talking thousands of years of an uninterrupted life and death cycle in one place. That alone isn't easy as life…is rough on everything and everyone. Then, once a core is established…you're talking another several hundred years of insects and stuff…even if people were around, they would never notice it. It wouldn't be powerful enough to cause harm so would just be a hole in the ground as vulnerable to random destruction as ever. Once it's actually gained awareness though…a century or so to reach the point of killing and actively seeking powerful food sources…another couple to start shaping itself, a few more still start crafting life. 'll go for fifteen to twenty thousand years all in all to a natural dungeon that's actually hazardous to humans and others."

It was Ouranos who spoke this time. "The dungeon of Orario has existed for far longer than a mere twenty millennia. It served as source of danger and threat to Gekai, it fueled the drive for life and aggression amongst all the beings for so long…" The deity went silent in thought, and Fels picked up the questioning.

"You said there was an _unnatural_ way for a dungeon to come into being as well."

Seren perked up, "Oh yes…you can make one."

If one could freeze even flame in time, it seemed for a moment as though just that had happened. Fels, Ouranos, even the flames of the alter seemed to pause in existence at this utterance.

"_Continue!"_ Not a request this time, nope.

Seren held out his hands, palms upwards. "What are the two things mortals in general tend to seek?" He continued before either of his audience could answer. "Wealth…and life…or existence one could say." Cue again the pacing.

"All a dungeon really is after all is a complex enneagram that's tied to a _place_. That's not that hard to make. I took an enneagram of an ancient sea-lobster and made a rolling magical artillery in a couple hours down in the dungeon. It's not that _hard_. What's hard…is using _yourself_ as an enneagram. But if you can…" At this, Seren simply waved his hands vaguely in the air as if to show how limitless the possibilities were.

"Dungeons by default…when civilizations exist around them at least, serve as hubs for conflict. Young men and women want renown, wealth, fame…that kind of thing. Some get it…some don't. As a result though, the dungeons are always _gathering_. It's why in most…you can find all sorts of stuff…usually from a poor sap who wasn't as good as you. So…the more creative and …willing of the magically inclined…decide to try and kill two birds with one stone." Seren held up two fingers to his audience.

"Wealth, and life. The wealth accumulated by a successful dungeon can be immense, though let's be honest…a hole doesn't really have a _use_ for wealth after all. It's not like you can buy a boy-hole a girl-hole and start making baby-holes after all." Seren was so focused on his lecture that he didn't note the sudden and inquisitive tilt in the heads of his listeners.

"So all that wealth can just…gather. I imagine your dungeon has all sorts of stuff sitting below from adventurers who go kaput…yes?" Nods. "So…now look at life. What's the point in wealth if you aren't alive to _use _it? Being a dungeon core…you're practically immortal. Sit around for a couple millennia, gather who knows how much wealth in the form of weapons, money, magical items…then recraft your body…pull out your mind…slap it back in said body…and boom…you're wealthy as can be!" Seren spread his hands wide as if in success. It was Fels that had to ask though…

"Then why does this not happen elsewhere…and everywhere?" Seren was already set with his answer.

"Because you _forget_. That's the key that stops most smart mages. Why risk losing your mind for the mere _chance_ of wealth and extended life. After all…someone might _beat_ you, destroy your core…which of course kills you…and then to add insult to injury makes off with all the stuff you were collecting. _That's_ not a good system. But the worst part is that…creatures are tied to their existence…by their existence. What you are is, in a way, what you are becoming. A human becomes a better, or worse, human over their life for example. So what happens when you set aside your living body for a body most often made of rock?" At this, it was Ouranos who seemed to ever so slightly look down at Fels.

"You _forget_. There has to be something that _binds_ you to who you were, reminds you of what it felt like to hunger, thirst, love, hate, need, reject…all of that. And when you forget those things…you start forgetting what it even felt like to be you in the first place. That's usually where the beginning of the end is. Even if a mage has a copy of his body's physical pattern stored…if you can't remember or recognize that's what it was or why it was even important in the first place…you're stuck as a rock…or cave…or dungeon…and game over."

"How long for this?" Fels was as ever grasping for more knowledge himself and seeking answers to questions he did not even have yet.

"Similar, minus the whole life cycle thing. You're a conscious dungeon from the get go, lets assume you chose a fancy cave…but you're limited on initial energy so you're still stuck drawing in the cycle of insects and animals. Let's say two thousand years for a dungeon with three or so levels and able to self-shape life. To get much bigger than that though…you're looking at a seriously exponential power demand. Four levels would be maybe six thousand years…five levels…twenty or more."

Silence except for the flickering flames reigned for several moments before Ouranos asked the final question.

"For sixty or more levels covering hundreds of kirlos each…?"

Seren frowned in answer, silent for a moment. This had been what he had been focused so intently on earlier. Without access to a calculator or computer, his math skills were only sufficient for day to day life. But to follow the general pattern though…

"I suspect…longer than life would have been viable there in the first place…I think."

"And so…defying both concepts you have put forth." Fels mused out loud, "Without life, the natural pattern could not begin in the first place. At the same time, neither would a sentient being be able to intentionally become one since a sentient being would imply life."

"Yep…it's a regular chicken or the egg scenario." From the sudden tilt in the cloaked figure and Ouranos head… "Yea forget that one."

With the lull in the conversation, Seren backtracked a bit. "You mentioned earlier a Guardian arrived on Tenkai thousands of years ago. On most worlds I've visited, the Guardians haven't existed for hundreds of thousands to millions of years. Legends and stories at most. Does time pass the same on Tenkai as it does here?" Fels also looked upwards at Ouranos at this.

"No…it does not. Time in heaven for the most part is considerably faster…but sometimes slower. Never the same however." Ouranos responded in turn. "You mentioned the new and old. The Guardian I knew spoke of a power that stretched far and wide, thousands of universes. Did they fall?"

Seren nodded. "Yes. Now that I think about it, the irony between my recent circumstances and…that…is impressive. The Guardians were betrayed by one of their own. He…or she…caused the quickening." The looks he received demanded an explanation to that one.

"The quickening was where the ways…well the best way to say it is that they _hardened_. The aether didn't _flow_ anymore between the universes and the Guardians and Travellers who were by nature connected to the aether…died off. Without access to the ways, even those who would be reborn…simply died, their souls or spirits or whatever they were, were unable to go out and find new bodies to inhabit. Some of us find ourselves living a _long_ time thanks to travelling, but again that's because of something to do with the aether. Without access to it…even those who seemed immortal…weren't."

Fels in particular was almost leaning forward about hearing this. While he himself had never heard of the ways before today, the mere concept of life and death being bound by energy…well.

"Eventually the quickening was broken, the ways have begun to relax and the aether is flowing again, and Travelers are travelling again. In some places…that happened just a couple years ago. In others, it was tens of millenia. As you pointed out…time doesn't exactly _flow_ the same everywhere. And so…the said person who kickstarted things again…restarted the Guardians as well." Seren's face was blank at this point. "Thankfully, they're no longer what they were, and very few, but they're trying to exercise the order and calm in the places they can."

"You do not sound as though you approve, if your reaction in the beginning was any indication…" Fels was pointing out his rather enthusiastic initial response.

"Guardians…they tend to play with time. Well not play…but they have no problem using time to their advantage. Because of that…they're arrogant, I think. They're not bad from what I hear…but how can you not be _something_ when you're literally going through existence helping make the rules as you go…by being there before the rules even need to be made. It's dangerous, and a slippery road. Neither me nor my friends have any interest in trying to play at being Gods, whether we intend to or not."

Seren suddenly stopped and sighed a deep breath…he was exhausted all of a sudden. "In the end, at least for now, I can't do anything anyways. I'm stuck until the gate settles, not to mention getting back down there is going to be difficult at best. I can…jump a bit…to places I can see, but that's hard and I never got the hang of it. Cadmin always laughed every time I almost broke my neck or buried myself in the ground." Seren chuckled at _those_ memories. "For now…I'm just…here. It's as good time as any I suppose to relax and recover. I lost a lot of friends not too long ago and frankly…I'm tired of fighting impossible odds for now."

Fels and Ouranos were both silent for a time, allowing Seren's thoughts to play before him as his eyes twitched back and forth, seeing things they could not. In the end…

"Welcome Traveler." Seren's head snapped upright at Ouranos powerful voice. "In memory of a man who once inspired even Gods to dream, I welcome you to Gekai. Do as you will that does not disrupt this city or the dungeon; the gods here are difficult enough to manage."

Seren bowed deeply in response, no shallow honorifics this time. "As you wish, I have no interest in undue disruption of your world. That being said Lord Ouranos, if my services are required in the future…do not hesitate to ask. I do get bored after all." Seren looked at Fels this time. "Just…pop a letter in anytime." After a moment, Fels nodded in return.

With that, Seren bowed once more before turning and striding back to and up the stairs leaving the deity and mage below.

Both of whom who simply remained still for some time. Eventually however…

"This changes little as things are I believe." Fels mused in conclusion to his thoughts. Lord Ouranos response however was not what he expected.

"On the contrary. I did not tell our not-so-young Traveler…what happened after the Guardian arrived on Tenkai." The aged and wizened deity turned his gaze to look down upon his ancient companion.

"There is a _reason_ we came to Gekai after all…"

To this…Fels was silent.

JiO-JiO

Seren practically bounced through the guild halls on his way out. Perhaps fortune or fate, the pink-haired Misha was still without customers when he returned to the main entrance area.

'_Yes!'_

Misha was straightening out the recent collection of forms she had gathered. Already, she was rather confused as the young woman she had…tried…to speak with simply didn't understand koine as much as she would have thought, Misha was…fairly certain…the young adventurer girl understood that Misha had volunteered to be her advisor.

Fairly certain.

So focused was she on the papers and and strange writing on the forms that she didn't notice Seren standing before her until he was patting her on the head. When she looked up, Seren had a broad grin across his face as he pointed first at himself and then at her. Before she could ask, he was making a broad arching motion through the air with one hand while his other made small swirling motions along the desk. Then, before her mouth could open any further, his right hand hit the counter four times in quick succession but never in the same place, while with his left hand had pointed at the center of her chest and made a slight spinning circle. _Finally_…with his left hand he drew a broad arc in the air _back_ the way it had first come…while with his right hand he simply…-_booped- _her on the nose.

With that done, Seren made a deep, formal bow to her before turning and heading for the door, leaving the speechless and utterly confused Misha holding out her hand as though to grab him. Eina, who had finally finished _her _work, had simply sat off to the side observing. The grin that looked like it would tear his face in half as he made for the door made Eina realize that Seren…knew exactly what he had just done.

Eina could only sigh.

'_This might be fun though…'_

Outside, Seren turned towards Babel. On the wall next to the door within the guild office he had seen several signs and posters about armor and weapons for sale and repair, which was exactly what he needed. All he had to do was go find this Hephaestus place and-

"Ah shit…"

Outside on the street, the lunch crowd was definitely out and active. However, everywhere Seren looked, he saw that anyone who was holding a staff or rod, like the purple haired prum with the moon-capped baton over there, was being accosted by people in armor…weapons in hand.

'_This…might be my fault' _

Seren had been about to skulk away when he remembered not only who…but _what_ he was dealing with: authority figures.

As he slowly began strolling past the group that was obviously terrifying the prum mage, Seren turned to the grey-furred cat-man in charge.

"Uh oh…was a mage girl a naughty prum?" The response he got was just about on par with what he expected.

With nearly no warning, he found himself being held by the collar of his new jacket by the furious cat-man, his blue eyes burning into Seren's own.

"Are you a mage?" From the look on the furious man's face, Seren could tell this was a rhetorical question as this cat-guy glanced down at his mildly rent and melted armor in disgust.

"Um…definitely a no?"

Seren let himself be thrown. He was even thrown in the direction he was wanting to go…down the street towards the tower.

"Then shut up and _move along!"_

Standing, Seren kept on going, only this time with his usual grin and go-lucky attitude glowing about him. After all…he was only doing what he was told!

'_Authority figures…always the same.'_


End file.
